https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...-fires-of-war/
There is so much oil that this nightmare of flame and smoke could go on for 15,695 days-that's 43 years-before finally exhausting every drop of Kuwait's 94-billion-barrel underground reserve.
Into this scene ambles an old Soviet tank, clanking and rattling and squeaking along at 3 mph. Walking not far from it is a man in what looks like a spacesuit. The tank is a T-34 of World War II vintage, made unforgettable 60 years ago-at least to the German Army, when its soldiers watched in horror as their shells bounced harmlessly off it. Today, it will come in handy if someone asks you to put out a fire designed in hell.
The original turret of the tank is gone, replaced by a platform on which a pair of MiG-21 fighter-plane engines are mounted, each 10 feet long. At the back of that platform is a small control cabin with room for just one operator. Above the MiG engines are six water nozzles that stick out like a pair of giant forks. A fire hose feeds water to the tank from a reservoir not far away. Hundreds of these reservoirs had to be dug to fight all the fires, and this one holds four million gallons of water. The reservoir gets its saltwater from a pipeline that runs 90 miles to the Arabian Gulf.
Into this scene ambles an old Soviet tank, clanking and rattling and squeaking along at 3 mph. Walking not far from it is a man in what looks like a spacesuit. The tank is a T-34 of World War II vintage, made unforgettable 60 years ago-at least to the German Army, when its soldiers watched in horror as their shells bounced harmlessly off it. Today, it will come in handy if someone asks you to put out a fire designed in hell.
The original turret of the tank is gone, replaced by a platform on which a pair of MiG-21 fighter-plane engines are mounted, each 10 feet long. At the back of that platform is a small control cabin with room for just one operator. Above the MiG engines are six water nozzles that stick out like a pair of giant forks. A fire hose feeds water to the tank from a reservoir not far away. Hundreds of these reservoirs had to be dug to fight all the fires, and this one holds four million gallons of water. The reservoir gets its saltwater from a pipeline that runs 90 miles to the Arabian Gulf.
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