1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:09,200 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: a show that gives a quick look. It's something that 4 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:16,799 Speaker 1: happened a long time ago. Today I'm Gay Bluesier, and 5 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,480 Speaker 1: today we're talking about the time when an out of 6 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: control gas fire met its match in a forty six 7 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: year old Texan and a whole bunch of dynamite. The 8 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 1: day was April nineteen sixty two. Armed with nearly eight 9 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,519 Speaker 1: hundred pounds of explosives, a team of firefighters led by 10 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: Redd A. Dare extinguished a massive natural gas well fire 11 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:52,559 Speaker 1: in the Sahara Desert. The fire, which was nicknamed the 12 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: Devil's Cigarette Lighter, had been raging in the eastern Algerian 13 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:00,240 Speaker 1: desert for nearly six months before a day or in 14 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 1: his team finally snuffed it out. The blaze had ignited 15 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: when a pipe in a natural gas well ruptured, launching 16 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: more than six thousand cubic feet of flaming gas into 17 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: the air every second. The stream of fire stretched eight 18 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: hundred feet into the sky and was fed by a 19 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: seemingly endless supply of natural gas. In fact, the pillar 20 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:28,040 Speaker 1: of flame was so large and intense that astronaut John 21 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,680 Speaker 1: Glenn reported seeing it from space as he orbited the Earth. 22 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:35,399 Speaker 1: It would have taken years to extinguish the blaze through 23 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: conventional firefighting methods, so once it became clear that the 24 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,679 Speaker 1: fire wasn't going to burn itself out anytime soon, Algeria 25 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: decided something unconventional was needed. The country called in read 26 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: A Dare, the world's foremost oil well firefighter and a 27 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: big proponent of fighting fire with fire. Paul Neil A. 28 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: Dare was born in Houston, Texas, on June eighteenth, nineteen fifteen. 29 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: As a teenager, he quit school in order to help 30 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: support his family, including his seven siblings. He worked at 31 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: a drug store, laid track for railroads, whatever he could 32 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,960 Speaker 1: do to make money. Eventually, he took a job at 33 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: one of the state's many oil fields and continued in 34 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: that line of work for about seven years. Next, Adair 35 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 1: joined the Army, where he served as a member of 36 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: the one hundred and thirty ninth Bomb Disposal Squadron during 37 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,799 Speaker 1: World War Two. It was around that time he got 38 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: the nickname Red, a reference not only to his red hair, 39 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: but to his soft spot for the color red. He 40 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:46,359 Speaker 1: wore red clothes drove a red car and later used 41 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: the color for all his business equipment, uniforms, and pamphlets. 42 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 1: Once the war was over, Red Adair found work at 43 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:59,240 Speaker 1: the MM Kinley Company, California based outfit that specialized in 44 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 1: controlling oil well blowouts and extinguishing well fires. The company's founder, 45 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,959 Speaker 1: Myron Kinley, taught Rhetadair everything he knew about fighting fires, 46 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: including a new technique he had pioneered that involved the 47 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: use of dynamite. It sounds counterintuitive, but the physics support 48 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: the idea. When a bomb goes off, it momentarily sucks 49 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,519 Speaker 1: all the oxygen from the surrounding area. That means that 50 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: with a carefully measured explosion, a well fire can be 51 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: temporarily starved of oxygen. Then, in that brief window and 52 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: the fire isn't burning, technicians can get close enough to 53 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: reseal the well with a plug. In nineteen fifty nine, 54 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: A Dair left Kinley and used what he had learned 55 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: to start his own company. Soon they were putting out 56 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: oil and gas well fires all over the world, including 57 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: in war zones, inland gas fields, and offshore oil rigs. 58 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: On average, A Dair and his team put out around 59 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: forty fires per year, many of which would have burned 60 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: for decades without their help. They didn't bomb every fire 61 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: they were called in to handle. In fact, Red designed 62 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: a whole fleet of equipment that didn't involve high explosives, 63 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: everything from water guns and high pressure turbines to semi 64 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,719 Speaker 1: submersible boats that could be used to cap underwater wells 65 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: on offshore rigs. Sometimes, though bombing a fire was the 66 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: best bet for putting out a blaze, over time, Red 67 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: was able to perfect the method he had learned from Kinley, 68 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,240 Speaker 1: and because of that expertise, he and his crew were 69 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: a natural choice to face off against the Devil's cigarette lighter. 70 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:47,840 Speaker 1: The fire in Algeria erupted on November six, nine sixty one, 71 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: and before the end of the year, the red Adair 72 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 1: Company was on the scene devising a way to put 73 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:57,480 Speaker 1: it out. The fire burned so intensely that the desert 74 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: sand around the whole had melted into glass. Without proper precautions, 75 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: anyone who got anywhere near the blaze would be vaporized 76 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:10,480 Speaker 1: almost instantly. To prevent this, the crew needed a tremendous 77 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: amount of water and in the middle of the Sahara Desert, 78 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: that was a tall order. The company wound up having 79 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: to dig its own wells to source the water it needed. 80 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 1: The crew also had to construct three enormous reservoirs to 81 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: store the water they pumped from the wells. Each reservoir 82 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: was ten ft deep and roughly the size of a 83 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: soccer field. The water from these pits would not only 84 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: be used to control the blaze, but to keep the 85 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:40,119 Speaker 1: crew and their equipment from burning up when they needed 86 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 1: to get closer to the fire. It took several months 87 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:48,599 Speaker 1: of preparation, but on April sixty two, read A. Dare 88 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 1: and his team were finally ready to make their big push. 89 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: They had modified a bulldozer by adding a sixty foot 90 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 1: boom arm to the end of it. Attached to the 91 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: boom were about eight hundred pounds of explosives, and when 92 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: rolled close enough to the fire, they would ignite automatically. 93 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: As you might expect, Red Adair insisted on delivering the 94 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:15,160 Speaker 1: payload personally. Dressed in his trademark red overalls and red 95 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:19,039 Speaker 1: hard hat, he began driving the mobile bomb closer and 96 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:24,360 Speaker 1: closer to the rim of the fuming inferno. Meanwhile, other crewmen, 97 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:28,280 Speaker 1: also dressed in red overalls and hard hats sprayed their 98 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,160 Speaker 1: boss with a constant stream of water to keep him 99 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: from vaporizing in the heat. After what must have felt 100 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: like an eternity, read position the bomb within just a 101 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,799 Speaker 1: few feet of the flames. Without a moment to spare, 102 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: he took cover and then boom. The fire had roared 103 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: unchecked for a hundred and sixty seven days, but then 104 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: in an instant, it fell silent. It took another month 105 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:00,080 Speaker 1: to remove the well head and place a cap on 106 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: the well, but in late May of nineteen sixty two, 107 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: the team got it done and the devil's cigarette lighter 108 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 1: had been snuffed out for good. After his victory in Algeria, 109 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:14,680 Speaker 1: Red Adair became a household name, so much so that 110 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: even Hollywood came calling. Red Struck a deal, and in 111 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight Universal released Hell Fighters, the story of 112 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 1: a cocky oil rig firefighter trying to repair his broken marriage. 113 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: A Dare and his colleague served as technical consultants on 114 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: the film, and the main character, played by John Wayne 115 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 1: was loosely based on a Dare himself. The movie wasn't 116 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: a hit at the box office or with critics, but 117 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 1: in A Dair's mind, it was still a huge win. 118 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: He later said of the experience, quote, that's one of 119 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: the best honors in the world to have the Duke 120 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: play you in a movie. Over the course of nearly 121 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: fifty years, the Red Adair Company extinguished thousands of fires 122 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: world one. Red finally retired from fighter fighting himself in 123 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:07,840 Speaker 1: though he would continue to work as a consultant until 124 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: his death in two thousand four, at the age of 125 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: eighty nine. Red's company typically earned millions of dollars for 126 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: each oil well fire they extinguished, and those big pay 127 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: days didn't go unnoticed by the press. When asked about it, 128 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: Read famously exclaimed quote, if you think it's expensive to 129 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:29,440 Speaker 1: hire a professional to do a job, wait until you 130 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: hire an amateur. You might think that's just Texas swagger, 131 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: but consider this. In all his years in one of 132 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: the world's most dangerous businesses, read Adair never lost a 133 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 1: single member of his crew. In fact, according to him, 134 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: no one was ever seriously injured on a job either. 135 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: That record speaks highly of red skill and leadership, but 136 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 1: it's also worth mentioning that he was crushed, burned, and 137 00:08:56,200 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 1: temporarily blinded on the job more than once. So his 138 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:04,719 Speaker 1: idea of what constituted a serious injury was probably a 139 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 1: little different than yours are mine. I'm Gabe Lousier and 140 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today 141 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you have a second and 142 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:21,479 Speaker 1: you're so inclined, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 143 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: You can find us at t d i HC. Show. 144 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,479 Speaker 1: You can also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, 145 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: or you can drop us a line directly at this 146 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: day at I heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler 147 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 1: Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening. 148 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 149 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 1: in History class.