As the tractor neared the fire, the assistant jumped out into the deluge of water and guided Adair with hand signals. Slowly, the boom brought the drum of explosives to within a few centimetres of the spot where the grey pillar of gas became flame.
He then dashed for the shelter of the trench. Adair leaped down from the tractor and set off after him, as fast as he could run. Once both men were in the trench the assistant pushed down the blaster, and the fire’s roar was drowned by the sound of a might ‘crrrr-ump’.
Thick black smoke covered the scene. The fire’s thunder was replaced by a shrill, whining noise of escaping gas. The Devil’s Cigarette Lighter had finally been put out.
Next came the equally hazardous task of crapping the well with a 10ft (3m) high steel block weighing 8 tons called a control head. But Adair decided to wait until the following Monday before tackling that. First of all there was an outcrop of small fires around the well head to be snuffed out; then he had to make sure that the pipe itself was intact. With all the fires killed, and the well cooled by a constant barrage of water, Adair was relieved to find that the pipe was still sound. So, early on Monday morning, he prepared to cut through the pipe and fit the control head over it, against the immensely powerful upward gas pressure.
For the next two days Adair and his team worked in a cloud of highly explosive gas which could ignite at any moment and burn them alive. Using a separated steel cable 10,000ft (3000m) long, they sawed through the pipe sticking out of the ground and cut it off. To combat any sparks, the work area was drenched with water. Then the massive control head – a complicated arrangement of valves, flanges, cocks and outlets – was wheeled in.
Once in place, the huge head would divert the rush of gas away from the danger area to a horizontal, 1200ft (365m) long crosspiece known as flow lines. The flow lines would then be lit at the ends and the well would finally be under control – just as the gas in a kitchen stove is a hazard only when the burners are open and unlit.
Because of the potential danger, a crane – which could give off sparks while being operated – was not used to swing the control head into position. Instead, a gang of 20 workmen hauled the head by ropes and swung it over the well.
As the head was eased into place over the cut-off pipe, the workers were soaked in a rain of gasoline condensed from gas – which sprayed out in a wide circle around the well. Adair and his team moved in, and for the next three hours they knocked home the bolts with brass hammers (less likely to give off sparks than steel ones). Fires were then lit at the ends of both flow lines; the biggest oil-field fire thus far in history had been capped.
Picture Credit : Google