Myron Kinley

Myron Macy Kinley (born July 4, 1896 in Santa Barbara , California , USA ; † May 12, 1978 ), also known as "Grandfather of Oil Well Firefighting", was an American firefighter .

He was a pioneer in the field of modern firefighting on oil wells ("wild well control") and was a teacher for numerous other "firefighters" who followed him, such as Paul Neal Adair ("Red" Adair), "Boots" Hansen, "Coots" Matthews . Many of the downhole tools still used in the oil industry today go back to his inventions. In 1913 he founded the company "Kinley Cooperation". Kinley has fought oil well fires worldwide for 50 years. He was taught the craft of extinguishing by his father Karl Kinley, who also worked in the oil field and was the first to extinguish a burning oil well with nitroglycerin .

In 1952, his life and his work in the documentary "Rig 20", winner of the Film Festival in Venice , appreciated.

His wife Jessie (born Dearing, April 12, 1914 in Blair, Oklahoma (USA), died May 23, 1997) was also active in the oil industry and is considered a pioneer in the field of horizontal drilling technology. In 1955 she published the book "Call Kinley", in which she writes about the professional adventures of her husband Myron.

literature

• Jessie D. Kinley: Call Kinley: Adventures of an Oil Well Firefighter . Cock-A-Hoop Publishing, 1996, ISBN 0964070618 .