1954-10-28 - Texaco Oil Well Fire
The Texaco Well Fire of 1954, burned for a total of two weeks near Pigeon Lake. Observations included large plumes of hazardous smoke during its burning. The plant itself started operating in 1951. The crew responsible for extinguishing the blaze and capping the well also observed oil and gas raining down upon extinguishing the fire before the capping was completed.
“In October 1954, Texaco Pigeon Lake, Well 16-26 went out of control and caught fire.
Finally, among the many tools used to cap the well was an Athey Wagon. In fact, it was originally designed and built expressly for that purpose.
Fighting high temperatures, the crew used the Athey Wagon and Boom to remove all the metal from around the well. Then, the capping crew placed an insulated 35 gallon drum on the wagon's boom end. This container was filled with some 450 pound of gelatin explosive sticks; caps and wires, leading to a detonator situated some 300 feet from the well behind a pile of dirt. A D-8 Cat skinner moved the Athey Wagon and Boom into place, putting the barrel full of explosives at the base of the fire, which was now roaring about 15 feet over the standing BOP on the casing bowl.
Camped out behind the pile of dirt, the fire fighters and the capping crew lowered their heads in anticipation of a wind wave from the explosion. The explosion- robbing the fire of oxygen- put the blaze out immediately as oil and gas rained down on the crew as the shock wave passed by.
The capping crew then rushed in, unbolted the BOP, and allowed it to be lifted by the force of the oil and gas blow- escaping out of the 7 inch casing from the Devonian Reef, some 7,000 feet below- and laid it with beside the well. A crane brought in a 7,000 pound full opening ball type master valve, and with great difficulty guided it over the blow, so the blow was going up through the open valve. Quickly, yet carefully, trucks pumped water into the side ports and brought the well under control. In all, Texaco 16-26 had burned for two weeks before being extinguished.”~ Excerpt from Oil Man Dan Claypool detilaed in 2003, as part of a grouping of Community Stories.
Below are Lee Kelly’s verbatim 1954, diary entries from The Life & Times of Lee G Kelley contributed by Lee’s Grandson Curt Smith
October 26 - Well on fire - one man killed, three in Wetaskiwin hospital with burns. From the boathouse it looks like Atlantic #3 looked (1948 well fire at Leduc). The roar can be heard plainly here at the cottage.
October 27 - The well fire is going strong. 10 million feet of gas burned in 24 hours. Pipes are laid to the lake and they are clearing the land to keep the fire out of the bush. Loss estimated at $200,000
Lee’s figure that the well fire cost $200,000 in two days, means between October 25 and November 8, 1954, Texaco lost $1.4 million. Converted to 2021 dollars, the loss would be $13.5 million. The numbers help explain why the wildcat firefighters get highly paid for this very dangerous work.
October 28 - Today we drove up to the wild fire, to say it is wild is putting it mildly. It is a really terrific sight, flames shooting 200 feet (60 meters) in the air, at all times, a tremendous amount of smoke, sometimes gas smoke, at other times mixed with oil
October 29 - the well is still blowing wild, it is really a grand sight.
October 31 - the well is as wild as ever.
November 2 - The well is wilder than ever. It makes the house tremble. They say it is because the debris has been moved away.
November 3 - The wild well is going strong. It is reported that two more men were hurt, one man had his legs broken, not sure what happened to the other fellow.
November 4 - With the light from the well fire, one can see all the coast line down to the dam.
November 5 - The well fire was really going to town, everything was jumping.
November 6 - The house was dancing a jig, the well is still going strong.
November 7 - Well fire put out at 10:45 AM, Verna heard the blast. There were no drills at the north end tonight, the first time since they started there.
November 8 - Well was capped today, a tricky job with no further injuries. The other rigs are not down, the field was out of bounds for airplanes so they didn’t need lights
"Fire at Texaco's Pigeon Lake 16-26 oil well, Pigeon Lake, Alberta.", [ca. 1954-10-28], (CU1203646) by Befus, Harry; Calgary Herald. Courtesy of Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.”
"Fire at Texaco's Pigeon Lake 16-26 oil well, Pigeon Lake, Alberta.", [ca. 1954-10-27], (CU1203871) by Befus, Harry; Calgary Herald. Courtesy of Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.
