oil fires
Burning crude conflagrations
Oil fires are fires fueled by petroleum products—crude oil, refined fuels, or lubricants.
They burn intensely and resist water, which can spread the burning oil rather than extinguish it.
The term often evokes large-scale industrial disasters or the burning Kuwaiti oil wells of 1991: Firefighters battled the oil fires for months.
Oil fires produce thick black smoke and require specialized suppression techniques.
- refineriesFacilities that purify raw materials
- fuel depotsBulk petroleum storage sites
- air pollutionToxic atmospheric contamination
- wellheadSurface opening of bore
- water jetsFocused pressurized streams
greenhouse gas emissions · controlled burns · storage tanks · Kuwait · petrochemical plants · water contamination · tankers · capping · sabotage · equipment failure · Gulf War · desert sand · human error · petroleum · chemical reactions · lightning strikes · crude · ignition
- Gulf WarDesert Storm, Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Gulf War, Saddam Hussein
- environmental harmair pollution, water pollution, pollution, acid rain, deforestation
- energy impactscarbon emissions, air pollution, greenhouse gases, emissions, pipeline leaks
- Gulf War illnessGulf War syndrome, depleted uranium, chemical exposure, pesticide exposure, burn pits
- fire safetysmoke detectors, evacuation plan, smoke alarms, sprinklers, assembly point
- Middle East WarsGulf War, Iraq War, Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War, Iran-Iraq War
oil fireselectrical fires
Flames from power faults
forest fires · wildfires · grass fires · brush fires · peat fires
oil firesice
Water's solid form
glaciers · frozen tundra · permafrost · deep freeze · polar ice caps