Annotated Bibliography

Primary Sources

Adair, Gary. Telephone interview. March 6, 2010.

Gary Adair is my archery coach and the nephew of famed oil well fire
fighter Red Adair. I asked Gary to tell me what he remembered about his uncle.
He said he remembered him being gone to different places around the world
because of his work. He described him as very outgoing, never wanting to slow
down. He said for as long as he could remember people called him Red.

Atwood, Randy. "Oil Well Fire Fighter to Area." Hutchison News, (Hutchison, KS),
April 28, 1976, 1.
Fourteen miles south of Pratt, Kansas, there was a well fire that had been
burning for several days. It could be seen 25 miles away with flames 30-40 feet
high. Water was poured on the fire all day before lightning stopped the
operation. The well was only five years old and was owned by Robert Gensch of
Wichita. This was Adair's second time to put out an oil well fire in Kansas.

Bradley, Carter. “Firefighters Risk Lives to Shoot Holes in Butane Tank.” Morning
Avalanche, (Lubbock, TX), January 13, 1950, 21.
In Elk City, Oklahoma on January 12, 1950, Red Adair and his crew set
out to “shoot” holes in a butane tank. The Reynolds-Hubbard #1 had been
burning for 23 hours before Red Adair came to the rescue. Adair tried to get
through the debris, but he had to walk along the bank side of the fire to reach the
tank. The earth shook and there was an ear-splitting roar. Finally, Adair was
able to see the tank. He shot but missed twice. On the third attempt, he hit the
tank, and it let out a screeching hiss. This allowed Adair to bring the fire under
control.

“Burning Well Put Out on 6th Attempt.” Canton Record, (Canton, OK), June 17, 1965,
1+.
I learned from this newspaper when the fire started and when it ended. It
took almost ten months and six tries to put out the fire. They used 40,000 barrels
of water. Flames shot higher than 100 feet when the fire broke out on August 14,
1964. The fire was out for about ten minutes when it started up again. It blew
25-30 pounds of red hot frocks for about a 100 yard radius.

“Canton Gas Well Fire.” Canton Record, (Canton, OK), March 7, 1968, 1.
The oil well fire at Canton, Oklahoma was known nationally. Airplanes
flying to Oklahoma City rerouted their flight plan to pass over the sight so
passengers could see the huge fire. The fire started in August 1964 and burned
until June 1965. The fire could be seen at night from many miles away. Red
Adair was called in to help control this burn.
“Casing is Run in Relief Well.” Canton Record, (Canton, OK), June 10, 1965, 1.
In an attempt to squelch the fire at the Paulsen blowout, a relief well was
drilled 200 feet from the original hole. The new well was supposed to take the
gas away from the original well weakening the fire. This way firefighters would
have a better chance of smothering the flames with heavy mud and water.

Crider, Bill. “Red Adair is Old Pro with Head Full of Tricks for Challenging Wild Oil
Wells.” Danville Register, (Danville, VA), August 10, 1972, 16.
When a Shell Oil Company platform with 22 wells blew its top in 1972,
Red Adair was called to the rescue. He used some of his innovative techniques
to put out the fire, as he had done many times in the past. Adair stated it was a
fairly easy job, but a platform with multiple wells did present extra danger. This
was the largest oil fire in Shell Oil Company’s history.

"Disastrous Gas Fire Still Burns at Palmer Station." Wellsboro Gazette, (Wellsboro,
PA), July 26, 1973, 1.
Tankers had been hauling water to the scene since the explosion on July
16. They had hauled more than a million gallons of water from nearby lakes,
rivers, and streams. The tankers were dumping the water in a temporary lake
that was the size of a football field and ten feet deep. A giant pump was
delivering 1,000 gallons of water per minute from five nozzles.

“Fearless Pioneer in Fighting Oil Well Fires.” Courier Mail, (Brisbane) Newspaper
Source Plus. EBSCO. Web. 14 January 2010.
On December 2, 1968 more than fifty men were evacuated from the Marlin
AT drilling platform because of a fire. Late, on New Year’s Eve the fire was put
out by pumping massive amounts of mud and sea water into the gas deposit.
This fire was put out by Red Adair. I counted this as a primary source because it
was written at the time of the Marlin platform fire.

Fireman: The Story of Red Adair. DVD. McNee Productions, Adair Enterprises,
Inc. 1996. 59 min.
This was a very good movie about the life and work of Red Adair. From
this source I learned some very important dates and locations of major well fires.
The A.L. Holly well first blew out on January 10, 1950. This was Adair’s first job
with M.M. Kinley and H.L. Patton. The Devil’s Cigarette Lighter was the well fire
that made Adair famous. The fire broke out on November 3, 1961and ended on
May 8, 1962. 550 pounds of dynamite was used to put out the fire. Skeptics had
predicted it would take 100 years for the well to burn itself out, but Adair
managed the task in less than a month. I counted this video as a primary source
because it was made with the consent and help of Red Adair. The film is made
up of footage of Adair and his crew at work and interviews with Adair himself.
Hawkins, Beth. “Red Adair Says Halting Oil Fires May Take 5 Years, Blames Kuwait.”
Los Angeles Times, June 12, 1991, 12.
Because of a lack of cooperation from the Kuwait government, Red Adair
believed it could take five years to put out all the fires left by retreating Iraqi
troops. Some of the wells were burning so hot, they turned the sand into glass.
Adair blamed red-tape on the delays they were facing in receiving equipment.
Sheik Saud al Nasir al Sabah, the Kuwait ambassador to the United States,
promised to look into the problems.

Hoastrom, Kim. “Houston’s Own Hellfighter, Red Adair.” DBA, July 1992.
Before Adair tackled the fires in Kuwait he met with the CIA and military
for briefing. By late November 1991 all of the fires were out. The equipment he
used to put out the fires included bulldozers, pipe cutting tools, pumps, hoses,
and water. No chemicals were used in Kuwait. Before he began fighting fires,
Adair worked in a rail yard for thirty cents an hour. I also learned that Adair liked
to race boats and cars in his free times. I counted this as a primary source
because it was an interview with Mr. Adair.

“Hot Shot on Gas Fire.” Independent, (Pasadena, CA), December 20, 1968, 30.
A well owned by Getty Oil Company blew out in the San Fernando Valley.
It shot flames 100 feet high for two days before Boots Hansen of the Red Adair
Company was called in to douse the flame. Red Adair was working a natural gas
fire in Australia at the time, so Boots Hansen and his crew had to fill the job.
They laid 1,400 feet of six inch aluminum pipe to insure enough water would be
available to work the fire. The water was not used to put out the fire; it was used
to keep the workers cooled down. Without the water Red Adair said his crew
would cook like baked potatoes.

“Innovator Coolly Tackled Worst Oilfield Blazes!” Australian, Newspaper Source Plus.
EBSCO. Web. 14 January 2010.
From this article I learned that the Piper Alpha Production platform in the
North Sea exploded on July 8, 1988. It was located 200 km. northeast of
Aberdeen and was the most difficult fire Adair dealt with. Because of his age
while working in the oilfields of Kuwait, Adair left most of the work to his eight
skilled employees. I counted this as a primary source because the author was a
witness to the burning fields in Kuwait and the attempts to put out the fires.

Lane, Randall. “They Couldn’t Find Their Ass with Radar.” Forbes, July 19, 1993, 58-59.
Following the oil fires in Kuwait several new companies gained recognition
in the field of wild well control. Red Adair wasn’t very impressed with the
business practices of some of the companies. Adair had netted over $100
million during his 53 year career, and now some of the new “upstarts” were
charging day fees as low as $1800. To hire Adair and his crew would run up to
$7000 a day per man. The main competitors to Adair included Boots and Coots,
Wild Well Control, Canada’s Safety Boss, and Neal Adams Firefighters, Inc.
Nigel, Wilson. “How Red Adair Saved Our Gas.” Australian, Newspaper Source Plus.
EBSCO. Web. 14 January 2010.
On December 2, 1968, three years after gas was discovered in Bass
Strait, an unexpected surge of drilling mud occurred during work on the Marlin
Platform. A huge bubble of gas, about 20 m to 30 m across, erupted into flame.
You could smell the gas two kilometers away. Red Adair was called in to tame
this well. This was counted as a primary source because the author wrote the
article in 1968 while the event was occurring.

“No Quick End Seen to Oil Well Fire.” Corpus Christi Times, (Corpus Christi, TX),
March 10, 1960, 55.
The oil well fire had been burning for six days. The temperature had
reached 2070 degrees and had melted some of the sand around the rig into
glass. Red Adair used his dynamite technique to put out the fire. Inside of the
fire there were whirl-devils, or mini-tornados, that formed at night because of the
extreme temperature differences.

“Oil-Fire Fighter Called.” Winnipeg Free Press, (Manitoba), February 4, 1974, 5.

An oil rig owned by Imperial Oil, Ltd. was damaged by a snow plow.
Several hours later the well caught fire. Red Adair was called in to put out the
fire. This was described as a routine well fire for the Adair Company. This fire
was one of the few wells Adair worked in Canada.

“Plan to Put Out Oil Well.” Canton Record, (Canton, OK), December 17, 1964, 2.
Jack McGreevy, President of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, received
a letter from a Tulsa oil company telling him how the Paulsen well fire could be
extinguished. The letter said they should build a steel barge, like a river barge,
which could be filled with sand bags and tied with cable to the corners of the well
platform. Tractors would be used to pull the cables, separating the platform,
allowing it to fall in and smother the fire. This was one technique that was tried
before Red Adair was called in to put out this flame.

“Oil: The Fire Beater.” Time Online, February 9, 1953.http://www.time.com (accessed

April 13, 2010).
Fourteen miles off of the Louisiana bayou shore, there was an explosion
of the Pure Oil Company’s gas wells. They called 53 year-old Myron Kinley to
“shoot-off” the Christmas tree with a 75 mm recoilless rifle. This article describes
how Myron Kinley was the indispensable man of the oil industry in 1953. Red
Adair was Kinley’s right-hand man at that time. I used this article for information
on the Myron Kinley page of my website.

"Red Adair Takes Command, Elk Hills Blaze Snuffed." Redlands Daily Facts,
(Redlands, CA), October 28, 1977, 5.
Elk Hills Naval Oil Reserve was on fire for three days. Adair told
authorities it would take him about four hours to extinguish the flames. He used
plastic explosives to accomplish the job. The fire first began in a desert region
 forty miles north of Los Angeles. It started in the 700 foot deep well. This was
Adair's first job since the North Sea blow out in April.

Singerman, Philip. “Into the Inferno, The Story of Red Adair.” Reader’s Digest, April
1990.
Adair was at a blowout with two French oil and gas experts. They were
also at the blowout at Gassi-Touil in Algeria. In November 1961, a column of gas
rose in to the air at the blowout known as the Devil’s Cigarette Lighter. This was
the well fire that made Adair famous. He sent his best crew including Boots and
Coots to extinguish this blaze. I counted this as a primary source because it was
an interview with Red Adair.

Singerman, Philip. Red Adair: An American Hero The Authorized Biography. London:
Bloomsbury, 1989.
This was a very good book about the life and work of Red Adair. It is the
only authorized biography of his life. The book contains photographs not
available from other sources. Mr. Adair collaborated in the writing of this book,
and for this reason I am counting this as a primary source.

“Tioga Gas Well Capped; Ready for Reworking.” Wellsboro Gazette, (Wellsboro, PA),
August 2, 1971, 1.
On July 16 a well blew up into a tower of flames. It burned out of control
for several days. Finally, Adair and his men lowered an 11,000 pound valve in to
place to cap the fire. To avoid another explosion, they place six inch pipes
coming out of both sides of the well to take the pressure off of the gas that was
still escaping. This gas was ignited in a controlled burn.

"Town Mourns Rig Victims; Workers Battle High Winds." Galveston Daily News,
(Galveston, TX), July 11, 1988, 7.
Red Adair and his crew battled high winds in a fight to put out the blaze on
what remained of the Piper Alpha platform. The huge disaster was felt in
Aberdeen and other parts of Scotland because of the 169 men killed.
Secondary Sources

Adair Enterprises. “Oil Well Firefighter American Hero.” http://www.redadair.com/history.

(accessed October 14, 2009).
This was a good website article for the background on Red Adair’s life. I
learned about his parents, Mary and Charles Adair, and how the young Adair
spent his time. I thought it was interesting that Adair attended four different
schools before he quit to help his family earn a living. Red Adair’s first oil well
related job was with Otis Pressure Control Company.

Adair, Red. NNDB. Tracking the Entire World. http://www.nndb.com. (accessed

February 12, 2010).
From this article I learned that Adair died on August 7, 2004. He was
buried in Forest Park Cemetery in Houston, Texas. Adair grew up during the
Depression. His wife’s name was Kemmie. They had two children, Jimmy and
Robyn.

“After 50 Years, Taming Runaway Oil Wells Still Thrills ‘Red Adair.’” Los Angeles Times
January 1, 1988, 3.
Myron Kinley retired in 1959, and shortly after that Red Adair started his
own company. Only three years later, Adair capped one of the biggest oil well
fires in history known as the Devil’s Cigarette Lighter. The first blowout Adair
capped was in Oklahoma in 1938. He was working for thirty cents an hour.
While working on the blowout, everyone else ran for their lives, but Adair stood
there fixing the valve until he had it done. This became the standard for Adair’s
work.

“Boots and Coots.” Boots & Coots International Well Control.

http://www.bootsandcoots.com. (accessed February 11, 2010).
On this website I found a timeline with information I could use on my
website. The dates I chose to use are: 1946-Adair joins M.M. Kinley; 1959-Adair
forms Red Adair Company and Boots and Coots join as associates; 1978-Boots
and Coots leave Adair to form their own company.

Crockett, Bob. “Photo of the Day.” Stars and Stripes.

http://www.stripes.com/photoday/071406photoday.html (accessed April 14, 2010)
I used a photograph of Red Adair in Frankenthal, Germany from this site.
Red Adair and his crew had just capped a 15-day methane gas blowout at an
underground storage site.

The Energy Behind Finding Energy. OERB. 2003. Vol. 1-2, 32 min. and 30 min.
From this two volume movie set I learned how a drilling rig operates. I
learned that oil companies use a machine called a thumper to locate the best
place to drill for oil or gas. The auger is inserted in the drilling hole to keep the
sides of the well from caving in during the drilling process. Three types of bits are
used to crush through the different types of rock they encounter. This was a very
 informational movie and helped me understand how oil and gas are mined. I
thought this would be helpful to understand what could cause an oil or gas rig to
explode into flames.

“Firefighting Great Red Adair is Dead.” SKY NEWS. Aug. 8, 2004. http://www.sky.com
(accessed April 3, 2010).
This online news source is printed in the United Kingdom. It was reporting
on the death of Red Adair. Adair became an international celebrity during his 53
years as a firefighter. He was best known in the UK for his work in the North Sea
and on the Piper Alpha disaster. I used a photograph from this site on my gallery
page.

Flynn, Sean. “The Big Heat.” New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com (accessed
March 30, 2010).
The Devil’s Cigarette Lighter began on Nov. 6, 1961, in the eastern
Algerian desert. It all began when a pipe on a natural gas well ruptured. This fire
burned more than 600 cubic feet per second. About six months after the fire
began; Red Adair was called in to assess the site. To put out the fire, Adair
maneuvered a modified bulldozer with a 60-foot boom attached to the front into
position near the fire. On the boom there was 800 pounds of explosives that
would be lit by remote. Adair’s crew sprayed him with water so he would not
vaporize in the intense heat. People said the heat was measured in thousands
of degrees and the sound was a ferocious, deep vibration.

Ghiselin, Dick. “Red Adair: Remembering a Legend.” (October 1, 2004)

http://www.epnay.com/archives/print/2318.htm. (accessed November 13, 2009).
From this article I learned about Adair’s wife Kemmie. It was her brother
Bill who gave Red his first job at Otis Pressure Control. Red Adair’s first capped
well blow out was on a December morning in 1940.

Holguin, Jamie. “Hellfighter Red Adair Dies at 89.” CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com
(accessed April 1, 2010).
This was a good article about the life and work of Red Adair. The article
stated that Adair revolutionized the science of snuffing and controlling wells
spewing high-pressure jets of oil and gas. I found a nice picture of Adair working
from the Tharos to put out the Piper Alpha fire. I used this picture on my website.

“Kuwait Fires.” http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/41927 (accessed April 1,

2010).
This website contains several nice photographs of the Kuwaiti fires. I used
a photograph of a bulldozer equipped with an athey shield on my gallery page.
“LIFE: Red Adair & Gassi Touil.” LIFE. http://www.life.com/images (accessed April 3,
2010).
This was a really nice collection of pictures of Red Adair taken in 1962 by
Life photographer Paul Schutzer. I used several photographs from this site for my
project.

Malic, Eric. “Firefighter Who Turned the Wrench on 2,000 Wellheads.” Proquest.
http://www.proquest.umi.com. (accessed November 13, 2009).
In this article I read that Adair started his first business in 1959. It was
called the Red Adair Company, Inc. In all Adair put out over 2000 well fires in his
lifetime.

Moss, Jill. “Red Adair, 1915-2004: He Put Out Dangerous Oil and Natural Gas Fires
Around the World.” VOA News. http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish.
(accessed December 11, 2009).
The techniques that Adair used to put out the fires consisted on large
amounts of water and dirt. Adair invented equipment that was made of bronze;
because of these inventions his crew was called the “best in the business.” Red
Adair also used a nitroglycerine material to suffocate the oxygen out of the fire.

“MSV Tharos.” http://www.aerophoto.nl/...MSV%20Tharos.htm (accessed March 5,

2010).
This website was used to locate a photograph of the Tharos. I included
the picture on my website.

“Myron M. Kinley.” Absolute Astronomy. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com (accessed

December 11, 2009).
Myron Kinley was born in Santa Barbara, California in 1898. He trained
Red Adair, Boots Hansen, and Coots Matthews to fight oil well fires. Myron’s
father Karl worked in the oil fields where he used dynamite to fracture rock and
increase the flow of crude. One day in 1913, a huge fire erupted and Karl Kinley
tried to put it out by blowing it up with dynamite. Surprisingly, this idea worked.
This idea is still used to fight many fires today.

“Paul Neal ‘Red’ Adair.” Red Adair Fire at the Wellhead.

http://www.encyclopedia_stateuniversity.com. (accessed November 24, 2009).
In 1978, Adair’s top lieutenants, Boots Hansen and Coots Matthews left to
form their own company, Boots and Coots International Well Control Inc. In
1997, Coots Matthews bought the Adair company following Red Adair’s
retirement.

“Piper Alpha Disaster.” Exponent Engineering and Scientific Consulting.

http://www.exponent.com/Piper_Alpha (accessed January 17, 2010).
I used this article for a picture of the Piper Alpha Disaster. I also learned
that there were 229 men on board the off shore drilling platform when it exploded
 into flames. Only 62 of the 229 survived. Most people were trapped because the
rescue helicopters could not approach when the flames were 100 meters high.

“Piper Alpha—Offshore 121.” Offshore 121. http://www.offshore121.com (accessed

April 1, 2010).
I used this article to learn about the Piper Alpha disaster in the North Sea
in 1988. I took photographs from the site to use in my project.

“Red Adair: Biography.” All Sands. http://www.allsands.com/History/people/redadair_wac_gn.htm

(accessed November 24, 2009).
In 1970 there was an offshore blaze at Bay Morehand, Louisiana. This
well was brought under control by Red Adair. Another famous well fire he doused
was the IXTOC #1 blow out in the Gulf of Mexico in 1979. The Piper Alpha fire
was the most deadly well fire he worked on. Over 160 men lost their lives when
the offshore rig went up in flames.

“Red Adair.” Fire House. http://www.firehouse.com/forums. (accessed November 13,

2009).
From this website I learned that the Red Adair Company, Inc. was
founded in 1959. I also learned that during his lifetime Adair helped to contain
2,000 oil well fires either on land or offshore. This site stated that Red Adair
retired in 1994 at the age of 79.

“Red Adair.” NNDB. http://www.nndb.com/people/731/000022665 (accessed November

13, 2009).
This website was used to locate a photograph and basic biographical
information about Red Adair. I used this photograph on my thesis page.

“Red Adair Quotes.” Thinkexist. http://www.thinkexist.com. (accessed March 4, 2010).

I used this site to find some of the more famous quotes from Adair. Two
that I liked and will use in my website are: “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 done made a deal with the devil. He said he is going
to give me an air conditioned place when I go down there, if I go, so I won’t put
out all the fire.”

Reed, Christopher. “Obituary: Red Adair: Swashbuckling Troubleshooter renowned for

Taming Huge Oil-Well Fires, Heading a Business that Carried Out More than
1,000 Missions.” The Guardian, (Manchester, UK) August 9, 2004, 15.
This was a good article that summarized the highlights of Red Adair’s
career. The article stated that the fires Adair extinguished were so enormous
that they threatened to be dangerous contributors to global warming, or the
potential causes of intercontinental air pollution disasters. According to the
article, Adair and his crew averaged 42 fires a year.
Schneider, Dieter. “Oil Well Fire Fighting.” MCA Petroleum.
http://www.mcapetroleum.com/firefighting.html. (accessed February 11, 2010).
There was a blowout in south Texas in 1965. There was gas at 600 feet
below the well. It took over seven months to contain this fire. Paul “Red” Adair
worked with Coots Mathews in 1972 in west Texas. He also worked with Boots
Hansen, David Thompson, and James Tuppen.

Severo, Richard. “Red Adair, 89, Conqueror of Oil Fires.” New York Times. (August 10,
2004). http://proquest.umi.com. (accessed November 12, 2009).
In this newspaper article I found out that the blazes of Kuwait hit 600 out
of 1000 oil wells. I also learned that the Red Adair Company used dynamite to
suffocate the fires. It was expected to take a year to put out the fires, but Adair
and the other company’s hired were able to accomplish the job in eight months.

Smith, S.L. "The Last Line of Defense." Occupational Hazards, March 1992, 48-52.
Men who worked for Red Adair while putting out fires in Kuwait wore
Nomex undergarments, heavy cotton coveralls, Nomex face shields, heavy
cotton gloves, and leather, steel-toed shoes. Temperatures in the desert
reached 130 degrees and the fire put off radiant heat of 1,200 degrees. Workers
began at four o'clock in the morning to help avoid the heat of the afternoon. They
could not work at night, because the low light made their work too dangerous.
The men were constantly doused with water from pumps that shot 10,000 gallons
of water per minute.

“Study: Gulf War Syndrome Doesn’t Exist.” MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14801666

(accessed April 1, 2010).
I used a picture of the Kuwaiti oil well fires from this site. The photograph
shows a tank in the foreground with wells burning behind it.

“Vintage Ads.” http://www.timezone.com/article (accessed April 14, 2010).

Rolex used Red Adair in their ad to show how dependable and rugged
their watches were. Adair’s job as a firefighter puts him in many dangerous
situations, and Rolex wanted to show that their watches could withstand any
conditions. I used this ad on my photo gallery page.