Hmm, this (or a previous) fire is already visible in the Google Maps satellite view.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sulaibiya,+Kuwait/@29.2573...
However, the tire pile arrangements look different than in the photo in the article...
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sulaibiya,+Kuwait/@29.2573...
However, the tire pile arrangements look different than in the photo in the article...
Meanwhile Getty has the satellite picture dated as "April 15, 2021" https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/maxar-closeup-...
So they are likely showing same event, Maxar is pretty good at getting images of current events as they happen. Don't know what sort of deal they have with Google to show them on Maps though.
Is it possible they have moved some of the tires out of the way to create a fire break?
My understanding is whenever Iraq lit the oil wells on fire they just pumped up seawater to help with extinguishing the blaze. I wonder if that sort of thing could work here? Basically just flood the area with seawater.
"On that cold autumn day in 1966, an underground tremor of unprecedented force shook the [ground] with a sparse grass cover on white sand. A dusty haze rose over the desert. The orange colored torch of the blazing well diminished, first slowly, then more rapidly, until it flickered and finally died out. For the first time in 1,064 days, quiet descended on the area. The jet-like roar of the gas well had been silenced"