Oil fire fighters from Boots and Coots cut off a section of piping to help them put out one of the first oil well fire.
Reuters photographer Russell Boyce: The workers were trying to contain the flames with a shield and tube when a blast of heat blew the worker’s helmet off.
The fire seems to dwarf the men, who look almost helpless as they struggle against what looks like the flames of hell.
To get access to the fires we had to drive through a lake of oil created by the wells. Once we got there, the heat was so intense that we could not get close. A slight change of wind and we'd have been covered in choking fumes.
It was 1991, the pre-digital age, and I was using Nikon F3P. To transmit the picture I had to return to my hotel room, process the film, make a colour print, stick a paper typed caption onto the print and use a drum transmitter to send the image.
Initially we transmitted pictures on our satellite phone, which was as big as a large trunk suitcase. It was so heavy, two people had to carry as it.
We had a generator running in my room as there was no power in Kuwait City. My room always smelt of fumes from the generator, photographic chemicals and smoke from the oil fires.
There was only water for an hour or so each day, so processing film was difficult. I would fill the bath with water when it was on, so that I always had the water necessary to process film.
The picture took 21 minutes to transmit, with each separation, magenta, cyan and yellow, taking seven minutes.