Paul Neal "Red" Adair (June 18, 1915 – August 7, 2004) ^[1][2][3] was a renowned American oil field firefighter. Events 618 - Coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries Year 1915 ( MCMXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Events 322 BC - Battle of Crannon between Athens and Macedon following the death of Alexander the Great. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Oil field fires can be the result of human actions such as accidents or Arson or natural events such as Lightning. Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous Fires that threaten civilian populations and property to rescue people from car accidents collapsed He became world famous as an innovator in the highly specialized and extremely hazardous profession of extinguishing and capping blazing, erupting oil wells, both land-based and offshore. An oil platform or oil rig is a large structure used to house workers and machinery needed to drill and/or extract oil and Natural gas through wells

Biography

The roads around South Shore Harbour marina in League City, Texas where Red Adair kept his boat were also named after him.

Adair was born in Houston, Texas, and attended Reagan High School. John H Reagan High School Principal He began fighting oil well fires after returning from serving in a bomb disposal unit during World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Red started his career working for the MM Kinley Company, the "original" blowout/oil firefighting pioneer. He founded Red Adair Co. , Inc. , in 1959, and over his long career battled more than 2,000 land and offshore oil well, natural gas well, and similar spectacular fires. Red Adair gained global fame in 1962, when he tackled a fire at a gas field in the Sahara nicknamed the Devil's Cigarette Lighter, a 450-foot (137 m) pillar of flame. The Sahara (الصحراء الكبرى aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-kubra, "The Great Desert" is the world's largest hot Desert and the world's second largest In 1977, he and his crew (including Asger "Boots" Hansen) contributed in mending the biggest oil well blowout ever to have occurred in the North Sea (and the 2nd largest offshore blowout worldwide, in terms of volume of crude oil spilled), more specifically at the Ekofisk Bravo platform, located in the Norwegian sector and operated by Phillips Petroleum Company (now ConocoPhillips). The North Sea is a marginal, Epeiric sea of the Atlantic Ocean on the European Continental shelf. Ekofisk is an oil field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. Phillips Petroleum Company was founded in 1917 by LE Phillips and Frank Phillips, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. In 1978, Adair's top lieutenants Asger "Boots" Hansen and Ed "Coots" Matthews left to found competitor Boots & Coots International Well Control, Inc. In 1988, he helped put out the UK sector Piper Alpha oil platform fire. Boots & Coots/IWC is one of the world's premier well control companies Piper Alpha was a North Sea oil production platform operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia Ltd. At age 75, Adair took part in extinguishing the oil well fires in Kuwait set by retreating Iraqi troops after the Gulf War in 1991. The State of Kuwait ( دولة الكويت IPA [dawlatt̪ alkuwajt̪]) is a sovereign Arab Emirate on the coast of the Persian Gulf, enclosed For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics.

Red Adair retired in 1993, and sold The Red Adair Company to Global Industries. Paul Neal "Red" Adair ( June 18, 1915 &ndash August 7, 2004) was a renowned American oil field Firefighter ^[4] His top employees (Brian Krause, Raymond Henry, Rich Hatteberg) left in 1994 and formed their own company, International Well Control (IWC). In 1997, IWC purchased the remnants of Boots and Coots and the company is now Boots & Coots/IWC. ^[4]

The 1968 John Wayne movie Hellfighters was based upon the feats of Adair during the 1962 Sahara Desert fire. The year 1968 in film involved some significant events Events October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter John Wayne ( May 26, 1907 &ndash June 11, 1979) was an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award -winning American Hellfighters is a film released in 1968 starring John Wayne, Katharine Ross, Jim Hutton, Bruce Cabot, Jay C

The History Channel's Modern Marvels episode on "Oil Well Firefighting" was one of Adair's last interviews prior to his 2004 death. History, formerly known as The History Channel, is a Satellite and Cable TV channel, with shows on historical events and persons&mdashoften Modern Marvels is a documentary Television series on History that answers the question of how many things in the Modern world are The episode aired after Adair's death and was dedicated in his memory.

Quotes

• "It scares you—all the noise, the rattling, the shaking. But the look on everybody's face when you're finished and packing, it's the best smile in the world; and there's nobody hurt, and the well's under control. " (describing a typical blowout experience)

• "Retire? I don't know what that word means. As long as a man is able to work and he's productive out there and he feels good—keep at it. I've got too many of my friends that retired and went home and got on a rocking chair, and about a year and a half later, I'm always going to the cemetery. " (to reporters while working at the Kuwaiti oil well fires at the end of the Gulf War in 1991)

• "I've done made a deal with the devil. He said he's going to give me an air-conditioned place when I go down there, if I go there, so I won't put all the fires out. " (in 1991, joking about afterlife alternatives)

• "There are two things I really like about my job. When the phone rings I never know where I'm heading to next - and I'm never bothered by life-insurance salesmen!" - To an interviewer.

References

1. ^ Obituary: Red Adair, BBC News, August 8, 2004
2. ^ Obituary: Red Adair, The Guardian, August 9, 2004
3. ^ Official site of Red Adair
4. ^ ^{a b} "Boots, Coots, Roots" at Boots and Coots/IWC