(2 of 2)
Two years ago, flying 7,500 miles in 60 hours, he landed in Iran for perhaps his toughest job. An Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. well was burning at the bottom of a cup-like rim of hills which held in the heat until the temperature registered 250° even some distance away. He showed Anglo-Iranian's crews how to rig up a bulldozer with asbestos-lined iron shields, got them to lay a 22-mile pipeline to the nearest river to pump in water to the work. Under the spray, he used the armored bulldozer to shove dynamite in an oil barrel close to the well, eleven days later dropped another loaded barrel from a loft. crane, and put out the fire with the two blasts.
Personal Demon. Hardworking, hard-cussing Kinley, a Californian by birth, has put out 300 fires, has few rivals (many other fire fighters have been killed). He is wealthy enough to retire on his fire fighting earnings (an estimated $100,000 a year), plus royalties on oilfield tools, sold by a company he owns in Houston. But Kinley, who regards fire as a personal demon always scheming to outwit him, can never resist the next jangle of the long-distance fire bell. Says he: "I guess I'll retire when they carry me out."