Unidentified firefighters try to put out a leaking oil well Aug. 11, 1991 at the Greater Burhan oil field in Kuwait
As Iraqi forces retreated from Kuwait after the Gulf War, they set fire to hundreds of oil wells. Some 10,000 firemen from 37 countries came to put them out, at first with seawater pumped in from the Persian Gulf in a converted oil pipeline at a rate of 4,000 gallons per minute. Then they capped wellheads with metal casings and pumped in liquid nitrogen to kill the flames. Finally, a Hungarian team came up with a method of mounting turbine engines from MiG-21 fighter jets onto old Soviet tanks, and then blowing out the fires with water and air.