Adair, Paul N. "Red" was an American firefighter who became famous for an uncanny ability to control spectacular oil well blowouts and fires. Adair was born in Houston, Texas. He never finished high school; he worked instead to help support his family. In 1938, after working at various odd jobs, Otis Pressure Control Company offered him a job. Seven years later, Adair served in the US army during World War II. After returning to his hometown, Adair began working for the M. M. Kinely Company, who specialized in oil well fires and blowouts. Adair eventually went on to start his own company, Red Air Company, Inc. and his company was the first to extinguish an underwater wild well, a well on a floating vessel, and was the first to cap U.S. well while on fire. He is also famous for his accomplishments during the Persian Gulf War with Iraq (1991). He and his teams extinguished 117 of the burning oil well fires ignited by Sadam Hussein's Iraqi troops retreating from Kuwait. The wells extinguished were located in the Ahmadi, Magwa and Burgan fields -- the highest producing fields in Kuwait.