Red Adair

Paul Neal "Red" Adair (June 18, 1915 – August 7, 2004) [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2281867.stm Obituary: Red Adair] , BBC News, August 8 2004] [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1279227,00.html Obituary: Red Adair] , "The Guardian", August 9 2004] [ [http://www.redadair.com/ Official site of Red Adair] ] was a renowned American oil field firefighter. He became world famous as an innovator in the highly specialized and extremely hazardous profession of extinguishing and capping blazing, erupting oil wells, both land-based and offshore.

Biography

in 1991.

Red Adair retired in 1993, and sold The Red Adair Company to Global Industries. [http://www.bootsandcoots.com/History/history.htm "Boots, Coots, Roots" at Boots and Coots/IWC] ] His top employees (Brian Krause, Raymond Henry, Rich Hatteberg) left in 1994 and formed their own company, International Well Control (IWC). In 1997, IWC purchased the remnants of Boots and Coots and the company is now Boots & Coots/IWC.

The 1968 John Wayne movie "Hellfighters" was based upon the feats of Adair during the 1962 Sahara Desert fire.

The History Channel's "Modern Marvels" episode on "Oil Well Firefighting" was one of Adair's last interviews prior to his 2004 death. The episode aired after Adair's death and was dedicated in his memory.

Quotes

*"It scares you—all the noise, the rattling, the shaking. But the look on everybody's face when you're finished and packing, it's the best smile in the world; and there's nobody hurt, and the well's under control." (describing a typical blowout experience)

*"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 got too many of my friends that retired and went home and got on a rocking chair, and about a year and a half later, I'm always going to the cemetery." (to reporters while working at the Kuwaiti oil well fires at the end of the Gulf War in 1991)

*"I've done made a deal with the devil. He said he's going to give me an air-conditioned place when I go down there, if I go there, so I won't put all the fires out." (in 1991, joking about afterlife alternatives)

*"There are two things I really like about my job. When the phone rings I never know where I'm heading to next - and I'm never bothered by life-insurance salesmen!" - To an interviewer.

References