European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 14, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Fighting Oil fires is a constant Battle with Quot Coke Quot the congealed heated Oil residue that Coats the ground. Move Gien Hendrix of the red Adair co. Directs a Crane operator who is scraping the Coke from the Well head. Hendrix and Charles Rhodes right stand on the hot Coke setting up a Yacc us pump. In hell Raymond Henry left and co workers endure deafening noise As they try to remove a Bolt from a damaged Well head spewing Oil 100 feet in the air. Year ago Coots Matthewes was about to Call it quits. Half a Century of battling fires had taken its toll pushing the 75-year-old texan to the Brink of retirement. But then Saddam Hussein rampaged through the Oil Fields of Kuwait waging a new and lethal form of environmental warfare. Matthewes set aside retirement to face the largest Oil Field disaster in history. Quot i be seen a lot of things in my life a a whole lot of fires Quot Matthewes said. Quot but i ainu to never seen nothing like that. I Hope i never do  Matthewes was one of the first firefighters into Kuwait after the liberation. What greeted him in the Oil Fields was a nightmarish scene a bizarre landscape like the surfaces of both the Sun and Moon the Earth covered with Black soot and congealed Oil was spitting flame and smoke thousands of feet into the air seven Hundred ominous fiery footprints marching to the horizon. Lakes of Oil the size of football Fields covered roads and pipelines. Everywhere were deadly explosives and Booby traps the leftovers of the Short violent War. A i knew we had to do it Matthewes a said Quot but at that moment i was t sure continued on Page 6 _ although it is just 10  it is part of the kuwaiti governments program to get repaired Wells Back into production. Fighting Oil fires is a constant Battle with heat water and exhaustion. Crane like contraptions left Are used both to scrape die dangerous Oil residue from the Well head arid to Cap gushers. Above Penny Fredline directs a High pressure Stream of Salt water toward an Oil tire while Paul Sauller right takes a Brief respite to wipe the grime from his face. Page 4 the stars and stripes sunday july 14.1991 the stars and stripes a pages