Kuwaiti oil fires

Kuwaiti oil wells on fire.

In 1991, the Iraqi Armed Forces retreated from the conquered nation of Kuwait and practiced a scorched earth policy by setting fire to Kuwaiti oil wells. The resulting fires burned out of control 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. Eventually, privately contracted crews extinguished the fires. By that time, however, the fires had burned for months, causing widespread pollution. The byproducts of the petroleum burn caused pollution to the soil and air, and the oil fires have been linked in the popular imagination with what was later called Gulf War Syndrome. Whether this syndrome has been caused by the oil fires, by chemical attack, by ambient radiation, or other causes has not been determined, and the longterm environmental effects of the fires have yet to be fully understood.

During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Dr. S. Fred Singer debated Carl Sagan on the impact of the Kuwaiti petroleum fires on American Broadcasting Company News "Nightline." Sagan said the smoke would loft into the upper atmosphere, disrupt the monsoons and lead to ecological disaster. Singer said such a view was ridiculous, that the smoke would go up only a few thousand feet and then be washed out of the atmosphere by rain. Three days later, black rain began falling over Iran, which essentially put an end to the speculation.

The companies responsible for extinguishing the fires are Red Adair Company (no longer in business), Boots and Coots (now Boots and Coots/IWC), Wild Well Control, Safety Boss (now two different companies - Safety Boss and Key Safety Services), Cudd Well/Pressure Control, Neal Adams Firefighters, and Kuwait Wild Well Killers. Other smaller teams gained noteriety for crazy inventions for extinguishing the fires (for example, the use by a Hungarian team of a jet turbine from a MiG-21 fighter mounted on a T-62 tank to blast water and air at out-of-control well fires), but failed to cap a decent percentage of the wells.

The fires were the subject of a 1992 IMAX documentary film, Fires of Kuwait, which was nominated for an Academy Award. The film includes footage of the Hungarian team using their jet turbine extinguisher.

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External links

http://www.enviroliteracy.org/article.php/593.html