Editing Kuwaiti oil fires (section)

==Extinguishing efforts==
{{see also|Oil well fire}}
The burning wells needed to be extinguished as, without active efforts, Kuwait would lose billions of dollars in oil revenues. It was predicted by experts that the fires would burn for between two and five years before losing pressure and going out on their own.<ref name="youtube.com">{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOkWEN6kfy4 |title=Betchel Corporation ''Kuwait: Bringing Back the Sun'' |website=[[YouTube]] |date=26 September 2008 |access-date=2014-10-10 |archive-date=2021-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410171027/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOkWEN6kfy4 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The companies responsible for [[oil well fire|extinguishing the fires]] initially were [[Bechtel]], [[Red Adair]] Company (now sold to [[Global Industries]] of [[Louisiana]]), [[Boots and Coots]], and [[Wild Well Control]]. Safety Boss was the fourth company to arrive but ended up extinguishing and capping the most wells of any other company: 180 of the 600. Other companies including Cudd Well/Pressure Control, Neal Adams Firefighters, and Kuwait Wild Well Killers were also contracted.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.bechtel.com/projects/kuwait-reconstruction/|title=See how the Kuwait Oil Fields were Restored|work=Bechtel Corporate|access-date=2017-07-19|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608171740/https://www.bechtel.com/projects/kuwait-reconstruction/|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to Larry H. Flak, a petroleum engineer for Boots and Coots International Well Control, 90% of all the 1991 fires in Kuwait were put out with nothing but sea water, sprayed from powerful hoses at the base of the fire.<ref name="sptimes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/21/Worldandnation/Fires_erupt_in_large_.shtml |title=Iraq Fires erupt in large Iraqi oil field in south Compiled from Times wires © St. Petersburg Times published March 21, 2003 |access-date=June 12, 2014 |archive-date=July 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715005928/http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/21/Worldandnation/Fires_erupt_in_large_.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> The extinguishing water was supplied to the arid desert region by re-purposing the [[oil pipeline]]s that prior to the arson attack had pumped oil from the wells to the [[Persian Gulf]].  The pipeline had been mildly damaged but, once repaired, its flow was reversed to pump Persian gulf [[seawater]] to the burning oil wells.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOkWEN6kfy4 |title=Betchel corporation ''Kuwait: Bringing Back the Sun'', animation sequence |website=[[YouTube]] |date=26 September 2008 |access-date=2014-10-10 |archive-date=2021-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410171027/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOkWEN6kfy4 |url-status=live }}</ref> The extinguishing rate was approximately 1 every 7–10 days at the start of efforts but then with experience gained and the removal of the [[mine fields]] that surrounded the burning wells, the rate increased to 2 or more per day.<ref name="youtube.com"/>

For stubborn [[oil well fire]]s, the use of a [[gas turbine]] to blast a large volume of water at high velocity at the fire proved popular with firefighters in Kuwait and was brought to the region by Hungarians equipped with [[MiG-21]] engines mounted originally on a [[T-34 variants#Hungary|T-34 tank]] (later replaced with [[T-54/T-55 operators and variants#Firefighting|T-55 tank]]), called "Big wind".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_tabc.htm |title=Tab C – Fighting the Oil Well Fires |access-date=2008-02-02 |archive-date=2015-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220213449/http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/owf_ii/owf_ii_tabc.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.caranddriver.com/features/stilling-the-fires-of-war-big-wind-page-2|title=Stilling The Fires of War, A Hungarian company lashes two MiG engines to a Soviet tank and proceeds to huff and puff and blow out the worst sort of raging oil-well fire|page=2|author=Zoltan Scrivener|date=June 2001|access-date=2014-06-12|archive-date=2014-07-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714155748/http://www.caranddriver.com/features/stilling-the-fires-of-war-big-wind-page-2|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Husain, T., ''Kuwaiti Oil Fires: Regional Environmental Perspectives'', Oxford, UK: BPC Wheatons Ltd, 1995, p. 51.</ref> It extinguished 9 fires in 43 days.

In fighting a fire at a directly vertical spewing [[wellhead]], [[high explosive]]s, such as [[dynamite]] were used to create a [[blast wave]] that pushes the burning fuel and local atmospheric oxygen away from the well. (This is a similar principle to blowing out a candle.) The flame is removed and the fuel can continue to spill out without igniting. Generally, explosives were placed within [[55 gallon drum]]s, the explosives surrounded by [[fire retardant]] chemicals, and then the drums are wrapped with insulating material with a horizontal crane being used to bring the drum as close to the burning area as possible.<ref name="sptimes.com"/>

The firefighting teams titled their occupation as "Operation Desert Hell" after [[Operation Desert Storm]].<ref name="iadc.org">{{Cite web |url=http://www.iadc.org/dcpi/dc-novdec03/Nov3-Boots.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714233742/http://www.iadc.org/dcpi/dc-novdec03/Nov3-Boots.pdf |archive-date=2014-07-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref>