I have seen Red Adair and the spin-off company Boots and Coots at work. Funny thing, After watching John Wayne put out fires like that the 120 foot tall pillar of fire from a natural gas well blow out didn't look as impressive as I thought it would. I did get a chuckle about the movie making a big deal out of "poison gas wells". All gas wells are poison gas wells, that is why they often light them up on purpose like this to burn off all of the gas they can. This looks like mostly crude but always hard to tell. Can be muddy water mixed in too. One thing for sure, even with ear protection the scream of that blown well hurts your ears from that close!
I was pushing a crew when a waste pit caught on fire less than two hundred yards from the same gas well that had burned. The way the waste pit, plant, and gas well were situated we had to go towards the gas well, almost up to it, to leave! Told my men to get to their vehicles and leave immediately but don't run and get themselves hurt, if the valves installed to prevent flashback didn't work every gas well for ten miles around was going to blow. Might as well move fast but stay safe, a minute or two wasn't likely to matter!
Just noticed, there looks to be a waste pit on fire on the left side of the well in the picture opposite the men., can't be sure.
Hu