Upon evacuation from Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm as the United Nations–United States coalition pushed Iraqi forces out, Iraqi troops worked their way through Kuwait’s oil fields and set fire to roughly 700 oil wells. Iraqi forces began setting fires to Kuwait’s oil fields in January 1991, and by November 1991 they were all finally extinguished. The results of the fires consumed roughly six million barrels of oil daily. The sheer number of oil wells burning made it impossible for Kuwaiti firefighters to extinguish the wells in a timely fashion to avoid causing a global environmental disaster. To prevent a potential global disaster, the Kuwaiti government called for international aid. About fifty countries came to the assistance of Kuwait, including the United States.