Red Adair Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Red Adair
OCCUPATION: Firefighter
BIRTH DATE: June 18, 1915
DEATH DATE: August 07, 2004
PLACE OF BIRTH: Houston, Texas
PLACE OF DEATH: Houston, Texas
Full Name: Paul Neal Adair
AKA: Paul Adair

Best Known For

Red Adair was an American oil well firefighter best known for completing over 1,000 jobs internationally.

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Red Adair

APA Style

Red Adair. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 10:24, May 25, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/red-adair-9175385.

Harvard Style

Red Adair. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/red-adair-9175385 [Accessed 25 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Red Adair." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 25 2013, 10:24 http://www.biography.com/people/red-adair-9175385.

MHRA Style

"Red Adair," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/red-adair-9175385 [accessed May 25, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Red Adair," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/red-adair-9175385 (accessed May 25, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Red Adair [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 25] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/red-adair-9175385.

Bluebook Style

Red Adair, http://www.biography.com/people/red-adair-9175385 (last visited May 25, 2013).

AMA Style

Red Adair. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/red-adair-9175385. Accessed May 25, 2013.

Synopsis

Red Adair was an American oil well firefighter born on June 18, 1918, in Houston, Texas. In 1938, he worked his first oil-related job with the Otis Pressure Control Company, and during World War II he served in the 139th Bomb Disposal Squadron. In 1959, he formed Red Adair Company, Inc. which provided services to control oil well fires and blowouts. His company established modern-day effective Wild Well Control techniques. Adair’s accomplishment gained notice,

and in 1968 he became the Technical Advisor on the film Hellfighters starring John Wayne. During his career, he and his company completed over 1,000 jobs internationally including in 1991's Operation Desert Storm. Adair died on August 7, 2004, in Houston, Texas.

Firefighting Legacy

Fire-fighting specialist Red Adair was born in on June 18, 1915 in Houston, Texas. He was regularly called in as a troubleshooter to deal with major oil fires. In 1984, he and his team put out a major fire on an offshore rig near Rio de Janeiro, and in 1988 they were the first men to board the Piper Alpha oil rig in the North Sea after it was destroyed by an explosion. He was also one of the first called to extinguish the oil fires started in Kuwait by Saddam Hussein at the end of the Gulf conflict (Operation Desert Storm, 1991). He is the subject of a film, Hellfighters (1968), starring John Wayne.