Paul N. 'Red' Adair, the legendary firefighter who capped over 2,000 oil well fires and blowouts, died of natural causes at a Houston hospital on Saturday, agencies reported. He was 89.
Adair began to gain worldwide prominence in 1962 when he fought a gas fire known as the Devil's Cigarette Lighter in the Sahara -- a 450-foot pillar of flame. He came to be known as 'The Hellfighter' for his daredevil acts of tackling inferno-scale fires. He was also immortalised on celluloid in a 1968 film called Hellfighters, which starred John Wayne as Chance Buckman, the character based on Adair. Although Adair was only 5ft 7in tall, his feats of bravery towered about the world.
He and his team grabbed headlines during the Gulf War for extinguishing over 117 oil well fires that were started by retreating Iraqi troops in Kuwait.
In 1988 he pulled off an extraordinary feat of bravery when he fought the explosion of the Piper Alpha oil platform in the North Sea that killed 167 men. He battled winds at 130 km per hour and 70-foot waves to put off the fire.
Adair was born on June 18, 1915 in Houston, Texas. His parents, Mary and Charles Adair, also had four other sons and three daughters. His father worked as a blacksmith. He attended Harvard Elementary School and Hogg Junior High School but quit to work as a labourer, first on the railways and then in the oilfields.
He joined M. M. Kinley Company, a famous Houston oil firefighting firm, when he was in his early twenties.
Fourteen years later, he set up his own company, Red Adair Company Inc, to extinguish oil well fires. He had a distinctive technique, which he mastered over time, of using a blend of explosives, mud and concrete to put out oil well fires.
He helped pioneer the development of modern-day oil well fire control techniques and equipment and earned his reputation as 'best in the business.'
The London Times said that "the deafening roar of oil fires left had left Adair" and that he loved to boast that in over 2,000 fires that he and his staff had put out, they had not sustained a single serious injury.
His talents saved many lives and billions of dollars worth of oil, earned him the respect and gratitude of many an oil sheikh, environmentalist and world leaders.
He also won numerous commendations for his firefighting abilities.
He sold his company, Red Adair Company, Inc, in 1993 and then formed Adair Enterprises, Inc. for consulting, product endorsements and investing. He retired in 1994.
He is survived by his wife Kemmie, his daughter Robyn, a son, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
