My father ‘Alan Rolfe’ managed an oil rig construction team in Kuwait for 17 years and held 2 world records for skating oil rigs across the deserts. Red Adair was part of his team for quite a while. I am now 82 years old.
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Back in the late 1950's, there were some big well fires in the old 'Leidy Field' in central Pennsylvania. Red Adair put those fires out. He was friends there with my Dad, and a famous old Pipeliner named Fred McKinsey from Ft. Worth, Texas. Those old guys were STUDs!
I worked an Exxon service station out on 290 in Houston back in the day and Red Adair was one of our customers, we serviced their vehicles and a motor home he had, glad to finally see some of the incredible work they did early 70s I think
It is neat to hear Red refer to Boots and Coots as just a couple of guys. I am so used to hearing about Boots & Coots the company it is easy to forget they were Red's right hand men.
Red was a great man , I was a young man working offshore in 1978 , he came on our rig Penrod 61 after a gas blowout.He took an hour of his time to drink coffee &talk one on one with a young roustabout … me. The first thing he said was “ I know I don’t look like John Wayne “ 😆
@@bruisedorange5576 I literally didn't even notice it until you said something. It must suck to be in one of those people who cannot tolerate the slightest distraction while watching a video. Personally I am just grateful that they find and uploaded this and made it available for free to watch. I don't blame them for watching to mark it as their footage to discourage others from immediately stealing it the moment they uploañd it. They did the work of finding it, uploading it. They do this to make money, if you want to watch it without a marking, feel free to buy the footage from them.
You know you made it, when to depict your life and achievements Hollywood has to use “John Wayne” himself as your character. Red and his men engineered many methods and tools for this work that we still use today.
I’ve watched a lot of videos, I can’t remember ever watching one with so much interest. I was enthralled, just the narration alone was fascinating. The images were incredible. Thank You
That was certainly a BIG JOB. Amazing that nobody was hurt! Even though we can’t judge old practices for the occupational health and safety standards of today, it was good that they had at least some idea of not mucking around with people’s lives (check out the part where Red calls someone sticking their hand in the gas flow “a foolish stunt”. Perhaps the only place he criticises his men.)
Those weren't Reds men, that's the drilling contractors men. Reds men knew better than pulling a foolish stunt like that, cause they'd lose their fingers in that flow and be on the next bus outta there without their fingers.
My uncle Jimmy Farris knew Red very well. He sold him a new Cadillac every year in Austin Texas. My uncle also took us out to Red's lake house, on lake Travis. Ask your family about Jimmie Farris, he also Dragged Raced Boats on lake Austin, powered by Cadillac engines. (This was about 45 years ago)
It is insane to think of the amount of oil and gas under the surface, and the immense pressure, that this can keep blasting out this volume of gas for days and weeks on end, and it didn't even scratch the surface. The amount of oil and gas and coal we have extracted is crazy, impossible to really visualize.
I'm amazed that they can work so closely to the well head without air tanks. All that natural gas can't be good for you. Also, those were the days when they didn't use gloves I guess.
Great video! Just a down-to-earth American who knows what he's doing describing what's going on in his easy Texas drawl. I've seen Hellfighters many times, and love it, but it didn't quite capture all that was going on with the real thing. Now I'm going to do a search for the "The Fires of Kuwait".
My dad, Lorne Greene,Red Adair, n Sam jack was friends. Boys from PA. My dad stayed co nights at his home n tx....TX.... dad retired n 2003 from gas patch
I had the previlege of meeting the Man on a blowout well in Oman on well Yibal 8,in the year 1993.I was then working for Halliburton Coiled Tubing services.
All they have for hearing protection is cotton balls and Vaseline. The whole series of gadgets and technologies of nowadays simply did not exist,nor did OSHA. The lack of any safety equipment. Bare legs around running abrasive cable. So much of the stuff they needed had to be fabricated on site. And no one got seriously hurt in the six month project. Talk about a different world. The safety nazis of nowadays would go mad. That flimsy corrugated sheet steel,if it got out of control is perfectly capable of cutting a man in half. The forces involved and the weights of steel,the bare hands handling nitroglycerin jelly. All supplies trucked and flown in. Oh man. Everyone there was worth every dime they were paid.
They Just Don't Make Men, Like These Ole, WW2, Generation Fella's Anymore & it's a Damn Shame I, was Fortunate Enough to be a Young Boy, & Hear Many of My, Elders from that time period Stories, & I, Treasure those times ..
Ever since I saw "Hellfighters" as a kid, I always thought Red Adair and oil well firefighters were about the toughest and bravest people on the planet. I know now why everybody says they have brass balls... that's so they don't make sparks. Sure was great to hear Red's narration while the movie was going on. I know the guys who do that work these days would make him proud, but I can't just think a little bit of how Red, Boots, Coots, the guys like them were essentially breaking new ground. I think that sets 'em off a bit. On a slightly different note, I hope people doing this and other dangerous jobs will stop for a minute and think about just how much OSHA and other safety groups are doing for them. You can wear shorts and yell "Yee-Hah!" all you want, but I'll bet your wife and kids would just as soon see you come home safe. You may know just what you're doing and do it right every time, but somewhere right behind you is some green kid still learning what will and will not kill you. Those safety rules aren't saying you can't do it, they're just there to be on your six when somebody else screws up. My hat's off to every firefighter out there, and all the more so to guys who walk into some of the most dangerous situations in the world as part of their daily life. Thank you!
Balls. Of. Steel. All of these men. And now a word from our sponsors. "Hey, friend. Why so glum? Are you hanging around an untamed well head? Is it hard to hear anything? Is the gas rushing out so loud it gives you a bigger headache than the nitro gel you're gonna handle to blast away that blowout oopsie? Well, look no further than our product Petroleum Cotton™! Tame that blowout! Tame that roar! With Petroleum Cotton™ ! From Blast-oh-no."
@@zachadair52 Yeah I'm Derek Adair. Red was my Great Granddad, I'm the direct male line from Red and I thought the only one with the last name because Red only had 2 kids one Son one Daughter, and His Son only had one kid and his Grand son only had one kid who is me, but maybe the daughter side retook the name. Or maybe there's a dirty little secret? Not like I care about it, just wish the whole family was more connected and not exploitative (especially about the last name)
The same kinda people who put out "The Devil's Cigarette Lighter" also put out the fires in Kuwait in weeks, not years. Red Adair, Boots and Coots, et al are serious professionals.
well ill be damned your rite i didnt see the read more button.....lmao my mother was probably his "biggest" fan Ive seen it at least 20 times i now have her whole video collection............all on VHS of course
@@TheRobertralph Yes indeed it has. Russia and Norway have gotten very rich selling the gas from their oil fields. Australia exorts ship loads to China and South Africa is setting out to do the same.
Funny they don't make films like this these days. Where is the Deepwater spill video? I would like to see how modern procedures vary from these old ones. And another thing I don't get is it they don't want gas and are going to just cement it up, why do they bother putting it out at all? Just leave it burning in that case. Does it ruin the pressure head in the other wells to leave the one open like that, like leaving a faucet on in a house with weak water pressure?
didnt keep hole full coming out of the hole? or just toooo much pressure and not enuf mud wt to keep the genie in the bottle???? what a horrific waste of precious natural gas. blew 5" DP out of the hole? blew it a half a mile away? that must have been invigorating
Red, Boots and Coots are legends! Amazing ingenuity and guts. They simply don’t make them like that any longer!
My father ‘Alan Rolfe’ managed an oil rig construction team in Kuwait for 17 years and held 2 world records
for skating oil rigs across the deserts. Red Adair was part of his team for quite a while.
I am now 82 years old.
cool story, thanks for sharing
Thanks PeriscopeFilm for keeping footage of my Great Grand Dad and may others around this means a lot to many people
Our pleasure! Love our channel and want to support what we do? You can help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference.
I have photos of my father and Red Adair in Kuwait many years ago.
@@alanhodges8839don't ever let those photos get away from you that are history that deserves to be remembered....it's something to be proud of ...👍👍👍
Growing up in the 70s in uk I had 2 us heroes evel knevel and red adair
Back in the late 1950's, there were some big well fires in the old 'Leidy Field' in central Pennsylvania. Red Adair put those fires out. He was friends there with my Dad, and a famous old Pipeliner named Fred McKinsey from Ft. Worth, Texas. Those old guys were STUDs!
i worked for red adaire and boots and coots and well control and others..
awww those were fun days...doc johnny
did you fight the oil fires in kuwait?
Do you have trouble walking? With bowling balls? 👍👍
He was a great man R.I.P Mr.Adair. thank you for the training. june 1988 piper Alpha Rig..
A part of our safety courses was dissecting what went wrong on Piper Alpha
Best damb video on TH-cam. Getting to see my grandfather work!
I worked an Exxon service station out on 290 in Houston back in the day and Red Adair was one of our customers, we serviced their vehicles and a motor home he had, glad to finally see some of the incredible work they did early 70s I think
It is neat to hear Red refer to Boots and Coots as just a couple of guys.
I am so used to hearing about Boots & Coots the company it is easy to forget they were Red's right hand men.
Jim Hutton and Bruce cabot, roughly based, played them in the hellfighters
They made their own way in the business, but Red taught them.
The laconic dry humor ("we could find water only a half a mile away but it was straight down") juxtaposed with the skill displayed, is a rare treat.
I hadn’t even caught that in the video, until I read your comment😂
Red was a great man , I was a young man working offshore in 1978 , he came on our rig Penrod 61 after a gas blowout.He took an hour of his time to drink coffee &talk one on one with a young roustabout … me. The first thing he said was “ I know I don’t look like John Wayne “ 😆
Thats a real man, like my grandaddy. As a kid in the early 80's the hellfighters was my favorite movie
these men deserve every cent of pay they get.
Red's voiceover really makes this video.
Yes, but Periscope's timer is really obnoxious
@@bruisedorange5576 I literally didn't even notice it until you said something. It must suck to be in one of those people who cannot tolerate the slightest distraction while watching a video. Personally I am just grateful that they find and uploaded this and made it available for free to watch. I don't blame them for watching to mark it as their footage to discourage others from immediately stealing it the moment they uploañd it. They did the work of finding it, uploading it. They do this to make money, if you want to watch it without a marking, feel free to buy the footage from them.
Truly hardworking and courageous men doing the impossible. Good job.
You know you made it, when to depict your life and achievements Hollywood has to use “John Wayne” himself as your character. Red and his men engineered many methods and tools for this work that we still use today.
Fascinating from start to finish.
Such a bad ass guy. A true hero
Red makes John Wayne look like a silly actor.
I’ve watched a lot of videos, I can’t remember ever watching one with so much interest. I was enthralled, just the narration alone was fascinating. The images were incredible. Thank You
That man was a genius!
Thanks for putting the counters on every video... couldn't watch a video without them.
Greetings Jeff. It's always a treat to see one of these for content creators I enjoy watching commenting on other people's videos
Did you catch the spider at 00:01:16:10?
Wow, Thanks for watching my Great Grand Dads promo video. Love your videos been watching for 4 or 5 years
Hi jeff!
Zljioppp
They don't make'em like Red any more.
Red is THE MAN... (was, R.I.P.)
Yep but as always its about the man.....not one mention of Ginger Rogers.
Thank You for uploading the vid. Incredible work they did and very interesting.
Simply amazing. So much hard work, dealing with natural forces, incredibly dangerous, simply amazing.
That was certainly a BIG JOB. Amazing that nobody was hurt! Even though we can’t judge old practices for the occupational health and safety standards of today, it was good that they had at least some idea of not mucking around with people’s lives (check out the part where Red calls someone sticking their hand in the gas flow “a foolish stunt”. Perhaps the only place he criticises his men.)
Those weren't Reds men, that's the drilling contractors men. Reds men knew better than pulling a foolish stunt like that, cause they'd lose their fingers in that flow and be on the next bus outta there without their fingers.
He was proud of not losing anyone who was involved.
Red Adair really was a legend in his own time.
I love how he’s just casually friends with an astronaut
This is a beautiful piece of history captured and narrated perfectly. Thanks!
one of the best o'l timey video's ive seen. good work.
My buddies never heard of him. I heard of him since I was a little kid. He was a legend.
He's my great great grandpa
@@theresaispretty I dont remember him at all he died before l was born
@@theresaispretty I don't got facebook, sorry bro.
@@FBI-bm4kx thank you
Ur gpa was a bad ass man, they don't come up like that anymore!!!
My uncle Jimmy Farris knew Red very well. He sold him a new Cadillac every year in Austin Texas. My uncle also took us out to Red's lake house, on lake Travis. Ask your family about Jimmie Farris, he also Dragged Raced Boats on lake Austin, powered by Cadillac engines. (This was about 45 years ago)
An IDECO Full-View derrick! Working the derrick board on one is quite an experience!
Hell of a man. They all were/still are.
It is insane to think of the amount of oil and gas under the surface, and the immense pressure, that this can keep blasting out this volume of gas for days and weeks on end, and it didn't even scratch the surface. The amount of oil and gas and coal we have extracted is crazy, impossible to really visualize.
I'm amazed that they can work so closely to the well head without air tanks. All that natural gas can't be good for you.
Also, those were the days when they didn't use gloves I guess.
Great video! Just a down-to-earth American who knows what he's doing describing what's going on in his easy Texas drawl. I've seen Hellfighters many times, and love it, but it didn't quite capture all that was going on with the real thing. Now I'm going to do a search for the "The Fires of Kuwait".
This is really fascinating!
Wow! So very cool. Really fun to watch. I was captivated...
Man, this was wild and so interesting and entertaining too
My dad, Lorne Greene,Red Adair, n Sam jack was friends. Boys from PA. My dad stayed co nights at his home n tx....TX.... dad retired n 2003 from gas patch
This is a different kind of madness. A good kind.
I had the previlege of meeting the Man on a blowout well in Oman on well Yibal 8,in the year 1993.I was then working for Halliburton Coiled Tubing services.
“In the oilfield, there’s no such thing as ‘can’t’ “.
All they have for hearing protection is cotton balls and Vaseline. The whole series of gadgets and technologies of nowadays simply did not exist,nor did OSHA. The lack of any safety equipment. Bare legs around running abrasive cable. So much of the stuff they needed had to be fabricated on site. And no one got seriously hurt in the six month project. Talk about a different world. The safety nazis of nowadays would go mad. That flimsy corrugated sheet steel,if it got out of control is perfectly capable of cutting a man in half. The forces involved and the weights of steel,the bare hands handling nitroglycerin jelly. All supplies trucked and flown in. Oh man. Everyone there was worth every dime they were paid.
Yeah, so sorry for you wannabee heroes eager to heroically repairing defects caused by other safety ignorants..
Find the failure 😪
I completely agree. That reminds me of a bygone era.
And Asbestos
Absolutely fascinating
I thought this was a typical sized blow-out. But apparently this one got worldwide attention. Amazing he made it to 89 years old after watching this.
At 19:37 red calls the guy in blue. A good rig hand. Praise from the man himself.
They Just Don't Make Men, Like These Ole, WW2, Generation Fella's Anymore & it's a Damn Shame I, was Fortunate Enough to be a Young Boy, & Hear Many of My, Elders from that time period Stories, & I, Treasure those times ..
Ever since I saw "Hellfighters" as a kid, I always thought Red Adair and oil well firefighters were about the toughest and bravest people on the planet. I know now why everybody says they have brass balls... that's so they don't make sparks.
Sure was great to hear Red's narration while the movie was going on. I know the guys who do that work these days would make him proud, but I can't just think a little bit of how Red, Boots, Coots, the guys like them were essentially breaking new ground. I think that sets 'em off a bit.
On a slightly different note, I hope people doing this and other dangerous jobs will stop for a minute and think about just how much OSHA and other safety groups are doing for them. You can wear shorts and yell "Yee-Hah!" all you want, but I'll bet your wife and kids would just as soon see you come home safe. You may know just what you're doing and do it right every time, but somewhere right behind you is some green kid still learning what will and will not kill you. Those safety rules aren't saying you can't do it, they're just there to be on your six when somebody else screws up.
My hat's off to every firefighter out there, and all the more so to guys who walk into some of the most dangerous situations in the world as part of their daily life. Thank you!
Great job men.!!!
I miss my Grandfather.LOVE-Paul Wayne
I Also miss my Great Grand Dad wish I had time to know him. Love - Lil Derek
I would like to see the ad in the paper for that job!
Balls. Of. Steel. All of these men. And now a word from our sponsors.
"Hey, friend. Why so glum? Are you hanging around an untamed well head? Is it hard to hear anything? Is the gas rushing out so loud it gives you a bigger headache than the nitro gel you're gonna handle to blast away that blowout oopsie? Well, look no further than our product Petroleum Cotton™! Tame that blowout! Tame that roar! With Petroleum Cotton™ ! From Blast-oh-no."
ohropax wax cotton ear plugs must have been based on that concept here. Probably started by someone related to the blow out business.
Awesome 🇺🇸
I’m related to him hecking yeah
Zach Adair 😒
Cool didn't know I had so many cousins and the like
@@devilslighter2987 you an Adair as well?
@@zachadair52 Yeah I'm Derek Adair. Red was my Great Granddad,
I'm the direct male line from Red and I thought the only one with the last name because Red only had 2 kids one Son one Daughter, and His Son only had one kid and his Grand son only had one kid who is me, but maybe the daughter side retook the name. Or maybe there's a dirty little secret?
Not like I care about it, just wish the whole family was more connected and not exploitative (especially about the last name)
@@devilslighter2987 all I’ve been told is that I’m a cousin of his. Idk if it’s like factual or not, but that’s what I’ve been told by my family
Need to bring back these fire fighting techniques to extinguish electric car fires.
Good stuff! Very interesting.
Amaizing vidieo❤
Sad that Cameron, Louisiana is a place that time forgot. Hurricane Rita hurt it, Hurricane Laura killed it.
The same kinda people who put out "The Devil's Cigarette Lighter" also put out the fires in Kuwait in weeks, not years. Red Adair, Boots and Coots, et al are serious professionals.
didn't they make a movie about this starring john wayne called ( hellfighters ). john played red
Yes the did, great film....
Read the full description, mentions the film there..
well ill be damned your rite i didnt see the read more button.....lmao my mother was probably his "biggest" fan Ive seen it at least 20 times i now have her whole video collection............all on VHS of course
When John Wayne plays YOU in a movie, you're the real deal and made of steel.
Good job Guys, 22.0 ppg Mud, thats heavy
Very good video
Very very interesting video and informative always wondered how they were put out
we dont want gas.. so we finally cemented it in... hahahaha
amazing
Yeah, that was funny to hear. I wonder if things have changed today....?
@@TheRobertralph those vent flairs are still used today if I heard my information correctly.
All that energy.
@@TheRobertralph Yes indeed it has. Russia and Norway have gotten very rich selling the gas from their oil fields. Australia exorts ship loads to China and South Africa is setting out to do the same.
@22:15 "Now this is a foolish stunt"
Funny they don't make films like this these days. Where is the Deepwater spill video? I would like to see how modern procedures vary from these old ones. And another thing I don't get is it they don't want gas and are going to just cement it up, why do they bother putting it out at all? Just leave it burning in that case. Does it ruin the pressure head in the other wells to leave the one open like that, like leaving a faucet on in a house with weak water pressure?
didnt keep hole full coming out of the hole? or just toooo much pressure and not enuf mud wt to keep the genie in the bottle???? what a horrific waste of precious natural gas. blew 5" DP out of the hole? blew it a half a mile away? that must have been invigorating
That is not a shaped charge, it is a directed charge. Not quite the same. But wtf, they were just building it by hand and guess work.
When Disney makes a video about oil rig firefighting
I’ve never taken onions or raisins for a headache.
and no man bun in sight
❤❤🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Крутой
this is algeria
And I bitch about a little rain, shame on me.
IFFCO
The magical pillow weekly shiver because cathedral microregionally damage between a used tsunami. faded, waggish marble
Search argyh5bpmo and you see him putting out gas well fire on my family's farm in Loving NM Jan 7 1978