Fire that lasted seventeen months
"The oil wells which have been fired in Romania
as the result of the earthquakes may burn for a long time, for no fire is more
difficult to fight than that which spouts under pressure from a burning oil
well, and Romania lacks experts in this particular form of fire-fighting. The
oil fire experts, indeed, all live in the United States, and when in 1929 an
oil well at Moreni, Romania, caught fire, experts were summoned from Texas,
7,000 miles away, to extinguish it, after the Romanians had done their best for
months. This great fire, which burned for seventeen months, shows the
difficulties of fire-fighters faced with an oil well ignited at its mouth. When
Myron Kinley, the expert summoned to deal with it, arrived, he found a crater
over 250 feet in diameter blazing at a temperature of over 3,000 degrees and
consuming enough gas to supply the needs of every London housewife. It took him
six months to extinguish the blaze completely. Oil well fires are quite unlike
any others. Water is useless, since it merely spreads the blaze. Even the
chemical extinguishers cannot put out a really strongly burning oil well because
of the pressure behind the flames. The heat is so great that the casing of the
well, the derrick and tools and equipment are melted away and the metal may
maintain its heat so long that it re-ignites the oil after the flame has been “snuffed
out”. One way of putting out the fire is to drive a tunnel towards the base of
the well so that the oil can be tapped on its way up before it has become
ignited. The oil is drawn off and the fire dies out for lack of fuel. Another
method is to place a charge of explosive so that it blows hundreds of tons of
earth on to the fire and snuffs it out. Both methods call for great skill and
courage. Men fighting these fires are equipped with asbestos suits to prevent
them being scorched when they crawl over the ground towards the flame. Their
first task is to advance with grapnels to clear the metal debris - a single
piece of metal left near may start the fire afresh. Then, perhaps with others
playing water on him to keep him cool, one of the men advances with the charge
of explosive on his back. He has to move slowly, for a fall might be fatal and
the wires for detonating the explosive have to be unrolled as he goes forward.
The charge is placed within a few feet of the column of flame, the
fire-fighters retire.
A handle is pressed and the charge goes up. The flame
suddenly increases. The roar which has been so great that those near have to
stuff their ears, becomes even louder.
Then suddenly it stops. The flame disappears and there is simply a spout of
oil. Over the hot ground men wearing special boots to prevent their feet being
burned by the hot ground rush with a huge metal cap that has been kept ready.
It is placed over the well, if they are lucky, before the oil ignites again.
The oil is tamed, but weeks of work often remain, before the well is brought
under full control and the danger of a new fire in the oil-soaked ground is
past. Sometimes the process has to be carried out several times as the fire
breaks out anew. Sometimes the fire fighters are unlucky - there are few blazes
that have not cost lives. The great Rumanian fire killed nine men. But always
there are the oil well fire specialists ready to tackle a blaze, however
dangerous the task may seem. Myron Kinley, already mentioned, has tackled over
one hundred fires in different parts of the world. The tunnelling method has
the disadvantage that it takes a very long time to drive the tunnel, during
which thousands of barrels of oil are being wasted, and that the tunnel is
liable to collapse with the heat as it nears the fire. Then the oil seeps
through and the fire increases in size. This explains the huge crater of the Moreni
fire, which had been tackled in this way first. Among other methods that are
tried with oil fires are bringing up high pressure boilers and spraying steam
on to it, and of snuffing out the flame with a huge snuffer swung over it on a
cable between two derricks. Every oil well fire needs individual treatment.
Putting out these fires is a profit able job - if you survive. Tex Thornton was
reported to have received £3,000 for blowing out an oil well fire in the U.S.A.
He crawled to the top of the crater and threw bombs down it until the blasted
earth put out the fires. £3,000 is of course, a small sum compared with that
lost through the burning of the oil. The flame of a burning, oil well is
unmistakable, especially at night, when it may be visible at a distance of a
hundred miles. The flame at its base is colorless, but the top is an orange
plume which often appears to flicker. This is due to the dense clouds of black
smoke generated."
By David Johnston
Adelaide Chronicle. Thursday 10 April 1941
