Evening star., 1930-11-30

perhaps it forms rivulet, to run to the near
est creek and scatter its fire for miles through
woodlands and farm country Truly, the burn
ing oil or gas well is spectacle fraught with
fright
There are several ways of extinguishing the
burning oil WELL and oftentimes all of them
are tried on one we'll The safest method is
that of tunneling beneath the ground for SO or
so feet, so that pipe may be connected to the
casing and the Oil drained from the fire into a
reservoir. First the site is cleared of debris by
workmen wearing asbestos clothing-thick
suits with a freproof hood and equipped with
a mica visor Bulwarks of corrugated iron are
built against the force of the heat and giant
fans installed at the site if there is wind.
Pumps and boilers are pulled UP and the work.
men are sprayed with water they dodge in
and out of the flames, snatching away with long
iron hooks the pieces of red-hot metal that
might reignite the well once the first flame is
Snuffed out.
The site cleared, the tunnel is constructed
and a small room is fashioned about the cas-
ing, that those in charge of fastening the
diverting pipe to the casing can move freely.
1t is long job, and meanwhile the fire is
consuming thousands of dollars in precious
liquid gold.
OTHER methods used in fighting oil fires
include the spraying of the casing head
with high pressure steam from battery Of
d
ing device which is placed over the blaze by
means Of cable stretched faulty between two
posts through the very center of the roaring
flame, and the use of mud and hematic spe-
cially mixed and pumped under high pressure
through sort of moving hopper swung over
the casing head.
The oil field superintendent must make his
preparations hurriedly, but well. Every fire
presents different problem to the engineer
ing department Of the oil company, but to the
workmen every oil fire is about the same. They
all call for blistering hours only few feet
from blazing inferno, and more than likely
they call for sacrifice of health or even life.
Even when a battery of boilers is used to
subdue a burning oil well, the workmen must
perform difficult feats. Unless the steam Is
released directly into the base Of the flame it
does no good. So the oil well crew must take
charge of the nozzles. They strap them to
steel wagon wheels and while a steady stream
of water is sprayed on them they advance into
the furnace until the pipes are placed only
few inches from the spewing oil. When mud
is pumped into the casing the hopper first
must be placed directly in the stream Of oil
feeding the flame, so that the mud coming out
of it under high pressure will equalize the flow
of the well and cut off the supply of oil.
Sometimes an oil well catches fire after It
has been brought in and the oil is flowing into
a nearby earthen tank When this happens
the flame, instead of shooting skyward spurts
out parallel to the ground-a very nasty sort
of situation, indeed. The first problem is how
to make the flame shoot upward, so that it can
be snufed out with steam. H Hgh-powered
rifles are then brought into play. Specially
trained marksmen, standing safe distance
from the well, direct steel-jacketed bullets at
the casing head until it is demolished. Often
a thousand so shots required before the
nozzle is broken off and the flame behaves
as it should.
1t is in extinguishing the burning gas well,
A1,AA Sc amnk
danger Here the problem is different. The
gas flowing from the well and ending in the
bright plume at the top does not ignite until
it is well away from the casing. If this col
umn of gas can be severed, even for an in
slant, the flame will be snuffed out much
one snufs out candle with the fngertips.
Although the methods used in fighting OH
fires are used to a great extent on gas fires as
weu,v the method generally employed in the
oil fields today consists of using high explosives
to sever the gas column, so the well will sub
side. AS in the oil well fire, bulwarks are con-
structed, the site is cleared and the workmen
are sprayed with water to ward of some Of
the effect Of the intense heat, which is fercer
than that Of the Oil fire. This accomplished,
the eXp!oSive-nitroglycerin or gelatin-is
placed within few inches of the casing and
exploded by electricity-no small task, even in
the Oil fields.
'TTIE business of placing a hundred or so
pounds of gelatin 80 40 quarts of
nitroglycerin in the midst of the flame h
usually delegated to the torpedo company oper-
ating in the field. Once the site is cleared
and everything is in readiness, a couple of
daredevils, bearing between them the huge can
of dynamite, walk directly into the flame. They
are equipped with asbestos SUITS of course, and
the hoses spray them with water as they slowly
and carefully work their way into the inferno
A stumble, a piece of flying debris from the
well or a slight miscalculation would eliminate
all traces of them from the landscape.
The can and aSbeSt0s marking urOtect the