Big Wind firefighting jet tank

[Frank S]

My first trip to Kuwait was in 91 when the fires were still burning. No Red Adair's method was not as primitive as you may think but his company had more than one method of putting out the fires as did a few of the other companies there fighting those horrendous fire. With hundreds of wells set ablaze it was all hands on deck from many countries. Almost anyone who could help put out a fire was involved and submitted their methods. some worked better than others some worked faster than others. but when so many wells were on fire very few solutions were rejected. I was first projected that it could take as much as a decade to quench all of the fires and get the infrastructure back up and functioning. At one time they worried that these fires could go subterranean and burn all of the oil that was still under ground.
Blowing them out with powerful jet engine exhaust using explosives dangled from a lattice boom and dropping 10 to 20 ton concrete cones over the wells even trying suicide runs at a well with bull dozers were parts of the methods One idea that was rejected was to clear the area for 200 miles and drop a hydrogen bomb right in the middle of the whole shebang, which would have extinguished all of the flames but at the same time would have rendered it impossible for reclamation and recovery.