Editing Gulf War (section)

===Kuwaiti oil fires===
{{Main|Kuwaiti oil fires}}
{{See also|Environmental impact of war}}
[[File:Operation Desert Storm 22.jpg|thumb|Oil well fires rage outside Kuwait City in 1991.]]
The Kuwaiti oil fires were caused by the [[Military of Iraq|Iraqi military]] setting fire to 700 oil wells as part of a scorched earth policy while retreating from Kuwait in 1991 after conquering the country but being driven out by coalition forces. The fires started in January and February 1991, and the last one was extinguished by November.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://earthshots.usgs.gov/Iraq/Iraqtext|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021028200910/http://earthshots.usgs.gov/Iraq/Iraqtext|archive-date=2002-10-28|title="Iraq and Kuwait: 1972, 1990, 1991, 1997." Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change|last=Wellman|first=Robert Campbell|date=14 February 1999|publisher=U.S. Geological Survey|access-date=27 July 2010}}</ref>

The resulting fires burned uncontrollably because of the dangers of sending in firefighting crews. [[Land mines]] had been placed in areas around the oil wells, and a military cleaning of the areas was necessary before the fires could be put out. Somewhere around {{convert|6|Moilbbl|m3|-4}} of oil were lost each day. Eventually, privately contracted crews extinguished the fires, at a total cost of US$1.5&nbsp;billion to Kuwait.<ref>{{cite book|last=Husain |first=T. |title=Kuwaiti Oil Fires: Regional Environmental Perspectives |year=1995 |publisher=BPC Wheatons Ltd |location=Oxford |page=68}}</ref> By that time, however, the fires had burned for approximately 10 months, causing widespread pollution.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}