名人軼事22 Red Adair
Broadcast: October 31, 2004
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Faith Lapidus with People in America in VOA Special English.
Today we tell about Red Adair. He was famous for putting out dangerous oil
well fires around the world.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Paul Neal Adair was born in Houston, Texas in nineteen fifteen. He was one of
five sons of a metal worker. He also had three sisters. While growing up, he
became known as Red Adair because his hair was bright red. The color became a
trademark for Adair. He wore red clothes and red boots. He drove a red car,
and his crew members used red trucks and red equipment.
As a young man, Red Adair dropped out of high school to help support his
family. He worked as a laborer for several different companies. In nineteen
thirty-eight, Adair got his first oil-related job with the Otis Pressure
Control Company.
VOICE TWO:
During World War Two, Adair served on a trained army team that removed and
destroyed bombs. After the war, he returned to Houston and took a job with
Myron Kinley. At the time, Kinley was the leader in putting out fires in oil
wells. Red Adair worked with Myron Kinley for fourteen years. But in nineteen
fifty-nine, Adair started his own company.
During his thirty-six years in business, Red Adair and his crews battled more
than two thousand fires all over the world. Some were on land. Others were on
ocean oil-drilling structures. Some fires were in burning oil wells. Others
were in natural gas wells.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Red Adair was a leader in a specialized and extremely dangerous profession.
Putting out oil well fires can be difficult. This is because oil well fires
are extinguished, or put out, at the wellhead just above ground. Normally,
explosives are used to stop the fire from burning. The explosion robs the
fire of oxygen. But, once the fire is out, the well still needs to be
covered, or capped, to stop the flow of oil. This is the most dangerous part
of the process. Any new heat or fire could cause the leaking well and the
surrounding area to explode.
VOICE TWO:
Red Adair developed modern methods to extinguish and cover burning oil wells.
They became known in the industry as Wild Well Control techniques. In
addition to explosives, the techniques involved large amounts of water and
dirt. Adair also developed special equipment made of bronze metal to help
extinguish oil well fires. The modern tools and his Wild Well Control
techniques earned Red Adair and his crews the honor of being called the "best
in the business."
Red Adair was known for not being afraid. He was also known for his sense of
calm and safety. None of his workers were ever killed while putting out oil
well or gas fires. He described his work this way: "It scares you -- all the
noise, the rattling, the shaking. But the look on everyone's face, when you
are finished and packing, it is the best smile in the world; and there is
nobody hurt, and the well is under control."
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
One of Red Adair's most important projects was in nineteen sixty-two. He and
his crew put out a natural gas fire in the Sahara Desert in Algeria. The fire
had been burning for six months. This famous fire was called the "Devil's
Cigarette Lighter." Fire from the natural gas well shot about one hundred
forty meters into the air. The fire was so big that American astronaut John
Glenn could see it from space as he orbited Earth. The desert sand around the
well had melted into glass from the extreme heat. News reports said Adair
used about three hundred forty kilograms of nitroglycerine explosive material
to pull the oxygen out of the fire.
VOICE TWO:
Adair's success with the "Devil's Cigarette Lighter" and earlier well fires
captured the imagination of the American film industry. In nineteen sixty-
eight, Hollywood made an action film called "Hellfighters." It was loosely
based on events in Red Adair's life. Actor John Wayne played an oil well
firefighter from Houston, Texas whose life was similar to Adair's. Adair
served as an advisor to Wayne while the film was being made. The two men
became close friends. Adair said one of the best honors in the world was to
have John Wayne play him in a movie.
