Last Oil Well Fire Is Out at Hub of Kuwait Industry

Firefighters in Kuwait achieved a symbolic victory in their battle against blazing oil wells by putting out the last fire at Al Ahmadi, the nerve center of the emirate’s oil industry, oil sources said Saturday.

The sources told reporters that the last blazing well at Al Ahmadi was capped Friday, bringing to 285 the number of well fires put out since Kuwait was liberated from Iraqi occupation last February.

Eleven well fires have been extinguished in the past four days. Retreating Iraqi soldiers set fire to about 640 wells and damaged another 92 as they fled advancing allied troops at the end of the Gulf War.

Kuwait will celebrate the taming of the last blaze at the Maqwa field in the next two days.

The recapping of wells at Al Ahmadi, the hub of Kuwait’s oil exports and refineries, signifies a landmark victory by U.S. and Canadian firefighters who have been battling the raging flames since March.

The emirate’s first oil shipment was exported from the oil town of Al Ahmadi in June, 1946. Post-Gulf War crude exports also resumed from Al Ahmadi on July 28.

With the Al Ahmadi and Maqwa fields out of the way, firefighters are expected to focus their efforts on Burgan, one of the biggest oil fields in the world.

The pace of putting out the fires will pick up by the end of August with the arrival of 12 more teams to join the nine American and Canadian units.

Iranian and Chinese teams arrived in the past week to add their weight to firefighting efforts.

The U.S. Army is also set to give a helping hand this week with a modified M-60 tank. Army engineers plan to use the tank gun to smash through rock-hard debris on top of the burning wells.

This will reduce the task of breaking up the debris from two days to 15 minutes, according to the Army.