Legendary Oil Well Firefighter Red Adair Red Acres Ranch and Estate Auction

BELLVILLE, Texas, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- There was only one Red Adair and this is the only opportunity the public will have to get a first-hand look at how the world's greatest oil well firefighter lived, worked and played. The public auction of legendary Red Adair Red Acres Ranch and estate sale start October 2 at 10 a.m. A portion of the proceeds benefits Shriners Children's Burn Institute in Galveston, TX that recently reopened due to destruction from Hurricane Ike.

The 377 acre estate, located just an hour northwest of Houston, includes a 5600 square foot main house, three guest homes, three barns, pool, tennis courts, helipad and a 9600 sq. ft. party barn known as "The Saloon."  Many personal and professional items will be auctioned along with ranch tools, equipment and cattle.

This one of a kind estate auction includes Red Adair branded items, large framed photos and custom artwork of Adair in action; Adair's coveralls and antique firefighting helmets, furniture, exquisite jewelry, rugs and other household items Adair collected from his travels around the world; Adair's boat racing trophies, and much more.

The highlight of the auction is a private viewing and auction of the first original revised draft and final screenplay from the movie Hellfighters, starring John Wayne.

"Throughout my years, I've had the pleasure of assembling and training what I believe to be the best group of people in the world. People with the presence of mind to deal with any flare-up, including my own. People who share the belief that nothing is impossible," said Adair before his death in 2004. "Never fear a job, always respect it, and always leave yourself a hind door to escape. May your hind door always be open."

About Red Adair

Adair was born in Houston, Texas, and attended Reagan High School. He began fighting oil well fires after returning from serving in a bomb disposal unit during World War II. He founded Red Adair Co., Inc., in 1959, and over his long career battled more than 2,000 land and offshore oil well, natural gas well, and similar spectacular fires. Adair gained global notability in 1962, when he tackled a fire at a gas field in the Sahara nicknamed the Devil's Cigarette Lighter, a 450-foot (137 m) pillar of flame. In 1977, he and his crew contributed in mending the biggest oil well blowout ever to have occurred in the North Sea (and the 2nd largest offshore blowout worldwide, in terms of volume of crude oil spilled, at the Ekofisk Bravo platform, located in the Norwegian sector and operated by Phillips Petroleum Company (now ConocoPhillips)). In 1988, he was again in the North Sea where he helped to put out the UK sector Piper Alpha oil platform fire. At age 75, Adair took part in extinguishing the oil well fires in Kuwait set by retreating Iraqi troops after the Gulf War in 1991.

About Red Acres Ranch

Adair thought Bellville would be an ideal meeting place for his family. When Adair and his wife Kemmie purchased the ranch in 1990, they immediately changed the name to Red Acres Ranch, a play on Adair's name and the popular TV series called Green Acres about two city folk seeking refuge in the country away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, soon finding that the chaos and confusion still ensued. The Adair's spent the holidays there, often holding big fish frys on Memorial Day weekends where they watched, cheered and argued about the Indy 500.  The party barn, which soon became known as "The Saloon" - Miss Kemmie's Saloon to be exact, was also the host of many benefits raising money for Bellville General Hospital and the One Hundred Club of Houston.  Once the Adair's retired, they set up their office headquarters at Red Acres. Adair passed away in 2004 and Kemmie remained at her beloved home and ranch until she passed away on April 10th of this year.

For more information on the Red Acres Ranch property

Contact Frank Monk at J. Frank Monk Real Estate at 979-865-3558, email to [email protected] or visit www.monkrealestate.com.

For information on the cattle, equipment, personal property and memorabilia or the auction

Contact Mark Switzer at 979-865-5468, email [email protected] or visit www.switzerauction.net.

For information regarding interviews and story coverage

Contact Sunny Adair Dickson at 713-516-8868 or email Sunny at [email protected]

SOURCE Red Adair