European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 14, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Assignment persian Gulf for Darrell Mora left and Paul Sauller Amoka and heat Are an every Day part of life. Here they help install a new Well  soldiers continued from Page 4 i wanted  five months later the scene remains much the same. Some Progress has been made but for the firefighters a who All live in a hotel less than a mile from the largest Field of fires a the environmental holocaust is with them Day and night. They Call them wild Wells and Iraq ignited More than 600 of them and100 storage facilities in Kuwait Between Jan. 17 and feb 28, creating More business than the firefighters had seen in 15 years. Before the War about 250 Oil Well fire specialists were at work in the United Stales nearly All were working for three Texas based firms the red Adair co. Joe. Bowden s wild Weil control co., and coot Matthewes outfit Coots and boots. All three companies Are working in Kuwait along with a Canadian firm safety Boss a few Large Oil corporations have fire control teams and finance research into firefighting methods and other countries also have Well fire teams. But the american companies dominate the Field putting out More than 80 percent of the world s Oil Well fires the most experienced workers command up to $2,000 a Day. Kuwait s Bill for the four companies already has topped $500 million. The task in Kuwait has forced the firefighting companies to double their Crews and several Hundred More people were hired to operate heavy equipment Lay water Hose and perform other support tasks about 1,500 men in All Are involved in fighting the fires Many of these had lost their jobs during the slump that hit the . Oil Fields in the Early 1980s. Some had Given up Hope of returning to the Fields and were working or looking for work in other areas. The Crews in Kuwait include teachers truck Drivers and Forest rangers. It is a Motley group of unlikely herpes. Most Are Quick with a colourful Story for the press and an off color joke for each other. They Are a Jovial even rambunctious group a reflection perhaps of their daily brushes with mortality. Quot i suppose we Are a sight to outsiders Quot said Darwin Mccarty of Anaheim Calif. Quot we look rough. Maybe we cuss a lot. And we re always joking and playing. But that stuff slops when we go into the Field i mean we All know what can  Kuwait soil Fields Are blanketed with unexploded bombs and hundreds of mines and Booby traps. Experts hired by the kuwaitis Are Clearing the Oil Fields but no one believes that All the explosives will be found. A a most of the Booby traps Are crude. Typically a grenade will be wedged next to a valve on a Well head or pump if the Valv j is turned the grenade Falls. Some Are More elaborate in one Case an armed grenade had been pushed into the fuel intake of a bus parked near the Oil Fields. A firefighter spotted the bus and grabbed it to transport workers to and from the Fields. Quot this fellow tried to fill the tank with Gas but  get the Hose in Quot recalled Jordon Warner of Houston. Quot when he looked Down into that thing and saw that grenade he said his stomach and heart switched places Quot had he pushed a Little harder the grenade would have dropped into the Gas tank sea water is a key to putting Oil fires out and keeping them out. Nine men have died and six have been injured working around the Oil Wells said company spokesmen. Six of the deaths involved mines or traps and two were in areas declared Safe by explosives experts none of the incidents however involved firefighters. Two of the dead were journalists the others were support workers. Quot this Job is dangerous anyway Quot said Mike Petris of Lafayette la. Quot we re used to being real cautious some of these other fellas  aside from the deadly refuse of War the fires in Kuwait Are especially difficult and dangerous because of How the they were started and because they have been burning so Long. The iraqis ignited the fires with explosives creating multiple cracks in each Well head. A separate flame Burns from each crack and All the flames must be extinguished simultaneously. Also the ground around tote Wells is caked with Petroleum solids that do not Burn. The firefighters Call the Rock hard substance Quot Coke Quot and after months of extreme heat it has become so thick that Many fires appear to Spring no from a Welt but from the Earth itself. Quot All the flames on a Well have to be put Page 6 the stars and stripes sunday july 14, 1991