AND THEN “BIG WIND” ARRIVES FROM HUNGARY – Q8 1991

Let’s say that at just past the midpoint, of the projected schedule for the firefighting efforts. In about October of 1991, we contracted the services of a wild well control group out of Hungary. And I must say, that the firefighting business was changed forever! The Hungarian team arrived with their “contraption” for putting out well fires. They were met with derision from some of the traditional firefighting teams. Comments such as “we’re not going in and pulling them out of there when they get in trouble” and things of that nature were bandied around.

I don’t believe they were taken seriously by the, already in place, firefighters. Their contraption consisted of two turbines from MiG-21 jet. Both mounted on an old Soviet tank chassis and controlled by two joysticks. Each turbine was connected to three water nozzles. Well here they come, amid much anticipation of failure and disaster for their team. The Romanian crew consisted of about 20 people and their heavy support equipment. Their machine was nicknamed “BIG WIND” or as I have named it, for myself, “POOF THE MAGIC DRAGON”.

The first fire they were assigned was one that was rated as “easy”, that meaning there was no oil lake, the wellhead had been cleanly severed and the fire was shooting straight up. It was also not one of the highest pressure wells. My memory of this event is a little hazy, but if my recollection is correct, then one of the traditional companies would deal with about 3 of these (or maybe a little harder scale of fire) in 2 weeks from start to finish.

The main thing all teams needed, including the Hungarians was water, water, water. I believe they needed about 1,000,000 gallons available at the well fire. So the basic principal was that they moved their tank, (by remote control) to about 25 feet from the fire. They then turned on the jet turbines, which made a horrendous noise (imagine standing right beside a jet). At this point they released water thru the six water cannon type nozzles. It was caught by the blast from the turbines and propelled directly into the fire, at the speed of sound. It effectively cutoff the flame from the oil supply and the fire died (poof)!

Geezus, what had just happened? Some reports say it took 1-1/2 minutes. However, my memory is that the first fire was extinguished in 11 minutes. From the time of, trundling their tank into place to, the start of, capping the well. Funny thing, not so much hooping and hollering from the other firefighters in the kitchen this night. Silence ensued, except for those of us snickering away in our part of the kitchen. Talk about poetic justice.

As I said in the preamble to this post, this one team had the effect of revolutionizing the wild well control business around the world. Soon companies such as Foremost, Nodwell and others were manufacturing this equipment for major oil companies worldwide. So something designed, by the Hungarians, out of necessity turned out to be the single biggest advance in wild well control in history. An immediate effect in Kuwait was to light a fire under the asses of the traditional firefighting teams.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, the wild well control companies were paid on a piece work basis, determined by the grade of fire (from easiest to hardest). So these companies knew how many wells needed controlling, they knew how many teams there were and in my mind had mentally divided everything up and were complacently going about their business and putting out fires along the way. Enter this new group and all of the sudden came the realization that fires were now going to go out, 2, 3 or 4 a day and their big basket of work was going to disappear fast. Well, would you believe it, all of the sudden these teams got “a lot faster and more efficient”.

A day or two after the Hungarians snuffed out their first candle, one of the Canadian teams chopped about 80% off the time needed to extinguish a fire and set a new record amongst the traditional teams. Coincidence, you think? Well like a miracle fires that were a week previously were now going out inside of a day. It was as if these guys had a come to Jesus moment. All of a sudden the fires were going out. Our 9 month projection was change to 6 months and by the end of November the end was in sight. Just before Christmas 1991, the Hungarians put out the last fire, in front of Kuwaiti dignitaries, some world leaders (or representatives) and Oil and Gas Company executives. We were done! The world was saved, and I was going home!

EDITORS NOTE: DURING THE COURSE OF THE FIREFIGHTING EFFORT THE WORLD PRESS POUNDED AWAY ON “THE WORST THREAT TO MANKIND IN HISTORY”, “THE TERRIBLE CALAMITY THAT WOULD LIKELY LEAD TO EXTINCTION OF MANKIND” AND ANY OTHER SUPERLATIVES OF IMPENDING DOOM THAT THEY COULD DREDGE UP, AND BLAME ON THE SITTING US PRESIDENT. I DO NOT DISPUTE THAT IT WAS A SIGNIFICANT DISASTER, BUT IF I MIGHT LEAVE YOU WITH A COMPARISON TO PONDER. WHEN, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE “MEDIA CATASTROPHE” MOUNT PINATUBO IN THE PHILIPPINES ERUPTED.

THIS, ONE, VOLCANO, SPEWED ABOUT 50 TIMES THE POLLUTANTS OF ALL THE KUWAIT FIRES (IN TOTAL) INTO THE AIR, IN JUST THE COURSE OF 24 HOURS. WHERE WAS THE MEDIA OUTRAGE? HMMMM. IT WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. THINK ABOUT IT, I HAVE, AND FROM THIS TIME OF MY LIFE ONWARD I HAVE HAD ABSOLUTELY 0 TRUST IN THE MEDIA ABOUT ANYTHING. THIS WAS VERY NEAR THE POINT IN HISTORY WHERE THE MEDIA CHANGED FROM REPORTING THE NEWS, TO TRYING TO INFLUENCE GOVERNMENTS, ELECT LEADERS AND SHAPE OUR THINKING IN THEIR IMAGE.