Hellfighter ‘Red’ Adair dies

The Associated Press

Paul N. “Red” Adair, who earned the nickname “Hellfighter” for having never met an oil well fire he couldn’t cap and whose story inspired John Wayne to portray his life on screen, died Aug. 7. He was 89.

He died of natural causes at a Houston hospital, his daughter, Robyn Adair, told The Associated Press Aug. 8.

When an oil well fire raged in the Sahara Desert in 1962, the flames grew so high that astronaut John Glenn said he saw it from space as he orbited Earth. The fire became known as the “Devil’s Cigarette Lighter’’ and burned for six months. Extinguishing it took daring and skill and became one of Adair’s most memorable achievements.

Adair is credited with battling more than 2,000 land and offshore oil well fires and was instrumental in capping Kuwaiti oil wells set ablaze by Iraqi soldiers. His death-defying feats included battling the July 1988 explosion of the Piper Alpha platform that killed 167 men in the stormy North Sea, 120 miles off the coast of Scotland.

Adair started the Red Adair Co. Inc. in 1959 and revolutionized the science of snuffing and controlling wells spewing high-pressure jets of oil and gas, using explosives, water cannons, bulldozers, drilling mud and concrete. He was the first to cap an underwater well and the first to cap a floating vessel. He led the industry in developing modern equipment and firefighting techniques, including the semi-submersible firefighting vessel.

Adair’s prowess inspired the title of the 1968 John Wayne movie based on his life, “The Hellfighters.”