Kuwaiti Oil Fires

RACHEL WHITE 1/31/2018 3RD PERIOD

GULF WAR:
KUWAITI OIL FIRES

• Also known as the Gulf War oil

spill, the Kuwaiti oil fires were
the result of retreating Iraqi
forces opening the valves of
hundreds of oil wells and
pipelines and setting fire to
them during the first Gulf War.
Their goal was to slow down
American troops, but the
result was the largest oil spill
in history, spanning an area
larger than the size of Hawaii.
• In the year 1991, the Gulf War/Kuwaiti oil fires took place in Kuwait which is
an Arab country on the Persian Gulf.

• There were nearly 600 wells set ablaze.

• The wells burned for seven months straight. In this time period, lakes of oil
formed and the Gulf was surrounded in poisonous smoke, soot, and ash.

• Because the area in which the spill/fire happened was surrounded by sand,
the sand and gravel of the land combined with the oil and soot, forming a
hardened concrete/tar-like substance over 5% of the country’s area.

• Live stock and other animals died due to the abundance of oil particles in
the air. The animals lungs had been blackened by the liquid.
AFFECTS ON HUMANS

• More than 1 billion barrels oil oil went up in flames

during this disaster. As a result, adults and children
alike felt the affects of the detrimental effects on the
the environment. There were were reports of children
having difficulty breathing before during and after the
oil spill.

• There were also several cases of of cancer reported

there are thought to be related to the pollutants from
the oil fires
REFERENCES

• mage: © Zen Icknow/CORBIS

Photographer: Zen Icknow Date
Photographed: January 1991 (picture
1)

• Persian Gulf War. Image: Digital image

© 1992 CORBIS; Original image
courtesy of NASA/CORBIS (picture 2)

• http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/
meast/01/03/
sproject.irq.kuwait.oil.fires/

• http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-
tyre-tracks-in-mud-beside-vast-oil-
lake-in-kuwait-6404765.html (picture 3)