That Petro-Hunt Pad Well Fire North Of Charlson -- It's Still Burning -- Update -- August 3, 2021

Updates

August 6, 2021: still burning. 

Original Post

See this post for background to this story. 

See also this post.

12th consecutive day: the oil well fire continues to burn. 

This story was posted at 6:05 p.m., August 2, 2021, Monday night. Twelve days and they "hope" to have the fire out by the end of the week. Are we talking almost three weeks? Eighteen days?

Responders have continued to battle intense flames and temperatures in an effort to extinguish fires in three oil wells near Lake Sakakawea in McKenzie County. Officials are aiming to regain control of the wells and douse the fires by the end of the week. 

... in order to get three ruptured wells under control.

... fire began July 22, 2021, Thursday ...

... and the company operating the wells said they have few updates to report on the status of the fire since the end of last week ...

... one-half mile south of the lake ..

... NDIC Lynn Helms said the fires were due to the failure of a blowout preventer ...a valve used to stop the uncontrolled release of oil ...

... an unsuccessful attempt to plug the first blown-out well, Graf said, and are expecting to make a second attempt in the next couple of days.

.... As of Monday afternoon, Wild Well Control was still moving burnt equipment out of the way to establish a clear path to the wells, Department of Mineral Resources spokesperson Katie Haarsager said in an email. Graf said that responders have successfully killed the fourth well on the site to avert another blowout preventer failure, and have constructed a barrier blocking the three burning wells from the fourth. 

...one of the three wells has blown-out more severely than the others, making that one the highest priority to plug.