ignition boat over and we will ignite it. that is what you want to see. it is. we call those our megaburns or very successful burn. if you look up to there, it is like a weather system being created there. and if you see the bottom of that burn, the smoke is white. that is the steam. that is the team from the adjacent water, yeah. you will see as we come up, there are shrimpers on either side of that fire. that is where the boom is connected. we have them pulling a u-configuration. they gather that oil into the boom and they keep working real slow. they coral the oil basically that is then set on fire. 2,000 to 5,000 barrels an hour with this kind of burn. you can t sort of just throw a match on it and hope that it is going to igignite.
we ll evaluate what the situation is when we get there. this is actually oil that you re seeing on the surface of the water. our vishing vessels come along and we collect it. when he get an appropriate amount, we bring an ignition boat over and we will ignite it. that s what you want to see. it is. we call those the mega burns. reporter: you look up, you can follow this thing up and you see it up to there, it s like a weather system being created here. if you see the bottom of that burn, the smoke is white. that s the steam. that s the steam from the water, yes. you ll see as we come up there are shrimpers on either side of that fire. that s where the boom is connected. we have them pulling a u.s. configuration they gather that oil into the boom. they just keep working real slow. they corral the oil,
though this is crude oil it has been degraded from mixture of the water. you can t throw a match on it and hope it is going to ignite. what happened they put one of these in with it. this is two half gallon jugs of red, a gelling agent. at the bottom you see a flare. you can see the fire in the background. that one has been going on for a while. successful fire. you can see in the foreground, a little of the boom here they corralled oil, ready to ignite that. that s the ignition boat over there. he will gently deploy the igniter into the pooled oil. he is putting the igniter. left it in there, how long will it take? three to four minutes of sustained diesel burning. the crude oil will catch fire. we are averaging, 2,000, barrels an hour in these kinds of burns. wow, amazing.
already done. i went out with coast guard, the federal supervisor of this effort. it s a private effort that uses contractors and fishermen who are not working, i spent a fascinating day watching these fires burning off the oil. let me share it with you. what we re going to be witnessing is a controlled burn. we know they ve been able to burn some of the oil off a little earlier today. we ll evaluate what the situation is when we get there. this is duly oil that you re seeing on the surface of the water. our fishing vessels come along, we collect it. when we get an appropriate amount of oil in the boom we will bring an ignition boat over and we will ignite it. that s what you want to see. that s it is, we call those our megaburns or our very successful burns. if you follow this thing up, and see it up to there, it s like a weather system being created there.