Maggie’s This is worth watching.... Red Adair's legacy....

[sirhrmechanic]

I remember seeing this at the newly-opened IMAX theater at Johnson Space Center Houston back in about 1993. It was an amazing piece of film-making and an even more amazing feat of engineering, creativity and sheer guts by some of the toughest guys on the planet.... oil well firefighters.

It's on YouTube.... and worth every minute. Reminds me what we can get done when there is a crisis and folks are willing to work together!

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Red himself showing this one.... Balls of titanium right there...

Cheers, Sirhr

 

[MtnCreek]

Hellfighters. Cause putting out fires with explosives is badass.

 

[308Gunner]

Yeah he does have titanium balls but they are quick detach because there is no way he could walk around with something that big

 

[vh20]

If they get John Wayne to play you in the movie...

 

[sirhrmechanic]

If they get John Wayne to play you in the movie...

The funny thing is that they should have gotten Red Adair to play John Wayne.... Because the movie is nowhere near as good as real life. You can't make a movie out of stuff like that. Noone would believe it....

Some incredible men right there! And I mean MEN....

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[TxLabRat]

The ol' boy sure loved his boats too. I heard that he had about a dozen and all of them called Blow Out if I recall correctly. Pretty common sight in the Galveston Bay/Clear Lake area.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

I lived in Clear Lake for a couple of years... El Lago. I had no idea he lived near there???? Seriously??? That was Adair's neighborhood???


*** I just found his address in Seabrook.... less than a half-kilometer from my house on Cedar Lane. I had no idea.... He was one of my heroes as a kid. I think there was a Disney movie about him. Even before I saw Hellfighters. I had no idea.... Thanks LabRat. That was a cool find!!! ***

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[TxLabRat]

I wasn't sure where he lived but I knew he kept several boats in the area. I live in Seabrook now but used to live on Loch Lake in El Lago when I kept a boat on the lake. A friend owned a marine service and used to work on some of his boats.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Well, if you were there c. 1992 - 1994, we were neighbors. I lived on Cedar Lane. You work at Johnson?

Were you there when the Crazy Cajun was around? That and the great Pho restaurant up near Johnson... across from Applebys?

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[TxLabRat]

Dang! II would have moved from Webster to El Lago about 1988 and stayed there until about 1996! No, never worked at JSC as I'm a refinery rat.

Loved the Crazy Cajun where the waitresses would nudge you over and sit down to take your order.
Applebys is long gone but there's a Pho Hoang. Would that be the one? It's right across from JSC near the main entrance.

 

[Barneybdb]

Some interesting reading here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1468951/Red-Adair.html

 

[sirhrmechanic]

but there's a Pho Hoang. Would that be the one? It's right across from JSC near the main entrance.

Might have been. The place I used to go to was right in that area. The woman who ran it was a Vietnamese immigrant. Her husband was a former Soviet officer who committed the ultimate sin... he was an advisor in VN and married a Vietnamese woman. Back in Moscow, they ruined his career, his life... ultimately, he and his wife got out and came to USA. He was a really interesting guy. Missed his homeland terribly. But loved being a 'capitalist' with a restaurant of his own. We spent a lot of time talking while I waited for the best Pho I ever had.

I had another friend in the neighborhood who was a rig rat... did a lot of contract work for Pemex. He was a fellow Land Rover fan. We had a lot of fun at Crazy Cajun. I never bothered with the alligator. But they had a blackened skirt steak that was just out of this world.

I hated living in Houston. But I loved my job. Best job in the world, working at JSC.

My buddy Pete Armitage, I think, still lives in El Lago. He used to work on his old Bentley. His engine crane was one of the units used to assemble Mercury capsules. So much neat NASA history in that neighborhood.

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[dttheliman]

Some interesting reading here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obit...Red-Adair.html

That Piper Alpha was a mess it happened in 1988 - I was on the same helicopter as Red Adair and some of his crew , we landed on the Tharos fire fighting which was trying to control the aftermath to let them off - I went on to one of occidental oil semi's that was close by to start trying to drill relief wells - it was fucking ugly - bad times