Intro - "I've done made a deal with the devil. He said he's going to give me an air-conditioned place when I go down there, if I go there, so I won't put all the fires out." A genuine American hero, Red Adair fought the most terrifying force of nature all over the world for more than 50 years. The oil fires were so hot they melt nearby cars and could roast a man in an instant. Red Adair was an innovator in the development of new fire-fighting techniques that make the oil fields safer and time after time he would risk his own life challenging the most disastrous oil fires of modern times.
I. Birth and Childhood.
A. Paul N. "Red" Adair was born June 18, 1915 in Houston, Texas.
1. His parents, Mary and Charles Adair, also had four other sons and three daughters.
2. The family lived in the Heights of Houston where his father worked as a blacksmith.
B. After attending Harvard Elementary School and Hogg Junior High School, he quit Reagan High School to help support the family. He held many different jobs from the time he quit high school until he went to work for the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1936.
II. Career
A. In 1938 Red was hired by the Otis Pressure Control Company, his first oil related job.
B. Red continued to work at odd jobs in the oil patch until he was inducted into the United States Army in 1945.
1. Red served in the 139th Bomb Disposal Squadron through the end of World War II and achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant.
2. He returned home to Houston following the war and went to work for Myron Kinley, the original pioneer of oil well fire and blowout control. Red continued to work for and with Mr. Kinley until 1959.
C. After fourteen years with the M. M. Kinley Company, Red resigned and formed Red Adair Company, Inc. to control oil well fires and blowouts.
1. Through Red Adair Company, Red pioneered the development of modern-day effective Wild Well Control techniques and equipment and earned his reputation as "best in the business."
2. Red and other members of his firefighting team averaged controlling over 42 oilwell fires and blowouts per year, inland and offshore, all over the world. Red and his men represent over a century of Wild Well Control and expertise, completing over 1,000 jobs internationally.
III. Awards and Accomplishments
A. One of Red's greatest tasks and accomplishments occurred in 1991 following the Gulf War with Iraq.
At 2215 hrs, on November 28, 1942, Fire Alarm Headquarters from Box 1514, situated at Stuart and Carver streets, received an alarm. When the responding apparatus arrived they found a small car fire at the corner of Stuart Street and Broadway. After the fire was extinguished the firefighters were about to return to quarters when their attention was called to smoke emanating from the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub a few doors away. Upon their arrival at the entrance of the Broadway lounge on Broadway they encountered numerous people leaving the premises admidst the cries of “fire”. The chief in charge immediately ordered that a third alarm be sounded from Alarm Box 1521 which the alarm was received by fire alarm headquarters at 2223 hrs. A civilian sent an alarm that was received at 2220 by fire alarm headquarters. As soon as the chief in charge realized that the immediate problem was one of rescue he ordered that a fourth alarm (received at 2224) and a fifth alarm (received at 1102) be sent. The apparatus responding was comprised of 25 engine companies, 5 ladder companies, 1 water tower company, 1 rescue company and various other apparatus. 18 hose steams for cooling purposes and three ladders were utilized (located at Piedmont, Broadway, and Shawmut for venting operations).
as 822nd Squadron Operation Officer and then Assistant 38th Bomb Group Operations Officer. Received a combat promotion to 1st Lieutenant 15 July 1945.
# Perry, Donald G.Wildland Firefighting: Fire Behavior, Tactics and Command. Fire Publications, Inc., Bellflower, CA, 1990.
In 1973, one of the most influential reports to ever come out of the fire service was created. This report would change the fire service forever and still to this day have a great impact on the way things are done in the fire service. One of the most impacted sectors within the fire service is the way firefighters perceive and implement fire prevention strategies and techniques. This report was called “America Burning” and was published by the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control. The report was sent directly to the president of the United States of America, who at the current time was Richard
U.S. Army Chemical School. (n.d.). History of the Chemical Corps (Essay). Retrieved May 18, 2014, from cbrn.wood.army.mi: https://cbrn.wood.army.mil/bbcswebdav/pid-47873-dt-content-rid-173075_1/courses/031_494-74D40-C46_CBRN_SLC_Phase_1_2014_000_01_N/031-SLA05%20History%20of%20Chem%20Corps%20%28essay%29%281%29.pdf
Woods was a very smart man with little schooling as a young boy Once he moved to Cincinnati he started to set up his own company developed and sold electrical devices that is around the time he patented a improved version of the steam boiler furnace he also patented the improved telephone transmitter which not only helped telephones but it also helped telegraphs communication.
In 1910, James Wood Johnson takes over the leadership of Johnson & Johnson until 1932.
The doctrinal foundation of the Fire Direction Center (FDC) started in 1929 at the gunnery department under the director Maj. Carlos Brewer and his replacement Maj. Orlando Ward. In 1935, after
1988-2000 Starting over with a $100,000 gift from his dad, he started feeding cattle and drilling oil wells using the newly developed “horizontal drilling technology”. In 1990 he moved to Lufkin, Texas where he continued feeding cattle and drilling oil wells. In 1992 he assembled a 36,000 acre drilling block in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana and through 1996, had drilled the five deepest horizontal oil wells in the world. Unfortunately the Louisiana venture was a technical success, but it was a financial failure. None of the five wells ever paid out. In 1993 he married Rita Irene Ambrosia and they still live in Lufkin where he continues to manage his oil and gas properties and invest in cattle futures.
No black school was available locally so he was forced to move. He said "Good-bye" to his adopted parents, Susan and Moses, and headed to Newton County in southwest Missouri. Here is where the path of his education began. He studied in a one-room schoolhouse and worked on a farm to pay for it. He ended up, shortly after, moving with another family to Fort Scott in Kansas. In Kansas, he worked as a baker in a kitchen while he attended the High School. He paid for his schooling with the money he earned from winning bake-off contests. From there he moved all over bouncing from school to school. "College entrance was a struggle again because of racial barriers."2 At the age of thirty he gained acceptance to Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa.
Numerous families living in small town America lost their income because of Standard Oil and forced hardship upon many. The legacy of John D. Rockefeller shall always live on as he has permanently shaped how this country looks. He has funded huge advancements in the fields of education and medicine along with starting the events to end lassiez-faire economics. The petroleum industry changed greatly during his career thanks to his research and completely new business methods were thought up of by him, some still in practice today.
His first invention was a lubricator for steam engines, U.S. 129,843, which issued on July 12, 1872. The invention allowed machines to remain in motion to be oiled; his new oiling device revolutionized the industrial machine industry.
David "Davy" Crockett was the fifth of nine children and the fifth son born to John and Rebecca Hawkins Crockett.
Young Roy Zerby was drafted away from his job of washing cars in Bellafonte, Pennsylvania, to eventually become Sergeant Zerby, Communications Chief for Company D, 714th Tank Battalion. Sergeant Zerby postponed his dream of a better job and livelihood to serve his country. Others like Alvin L. Cooper of Northampton, Massachusetts, volunteered "two steps ahead of the draft board" in order to avoid the National Conscription Act. Cooper quit his position as a Glazing Machine Operator at the International Silver Company and left his Public Accounting classes to become a Surgical Technician in the 714th Battalion's Medical Detachment.
First a historical look at one of the most prolific and ingenious engineers of all time – who never stopped working and fulfilling his dreams. Elijah McCoy (1844-1929) was an American inventor born in Colchester, Ontario, Canada, to parents who had escaped from slavery in Kentucky in 1837. McCoy was best known for his inventions of devices used to lubricate heavy machinery automatically. McCoy went to Edinburgh, Scotland, at age 15 and studied mechanical engineering for five years. When he came home he became a railroad fireman on the Michigan State Railroad. Back then steam locomotives had to stop at intervals so that the fireman could oil their pistons, levers, and connecting pins. About 1870, while living in the town of Ypsilanti, Michigan, McCoy began to experiment with automatic lubricators for steam engines.