Paul Neal "Red" Adair (June 18, 1915 – August 7, 2004) was an American oil well firefighter. He became notable as an innovator in the highly specialized and extremely hazardous profession of extinguishing and capping blazing, erupting oil well blowouts, both land-based and offshore.
Faye Guidry, Robert Adair, Dorothy Morris, David Adair, George Adair, May Miata, Charlie Adair
Star Sign
Gemini
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Trademark
1
Red overalls
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Quote
1
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.
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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.
3
That's one of the best honors in the world: To have The Duke [John Wayne] play you in a movie.
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Fact
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Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 3-4. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.
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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.
3
Is credited with battling more than 2000 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 off the coast of Scotland.
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His fire fighting team was first among 27 from sixteen countries. They capped 732 Kuwati oil wells during the Persian Gulf war.
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His exploits inspired the film "The Hellfighters," in which he was portrayed by 'John Wayne'.
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Specialized in extinguishing oil-well fires.
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Was hired to put out burning oil wells in Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm). Because of the intensity of the fires, they had to be put out with modified army tanks fitted with jet engines. The tanks were brought next to the flames and then "blew out" the flames with the jet engines.
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hellfighters
1968
technical advisor: of the Red Adair Wild Well Control Company: upon whose personal experiences are based many of the incidents in this motion picture and whose technical help enabled us to re-create them
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Modern Marvels
2004
TV Series documentary
Himself - Oil Fire Fighter
Ein Abend für Nadja Tiller und Walter Giller
1987
TV Movie
Himself
Carson's Comedy Classics
1983
TV Series
Himself
Good Morning America
1980
TV Series
Himself
Bilder, die die Welt bewegten - Peter von Zahn berichtet
1980
TV Series documentary
Himself
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1977
TV Series
Himself
Known for movies
Ein Abend für Nadja Tiller und Walter Giller (1987) as Himself
Hellfighters (1968) as Miscellaneous Crew
Modern Marvels (2004) as Himself - Oil Fire Fighter
$1.6 Million
