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BILL FARREN

Bill Farren

Bill Farren and MacGyver had known each other since they were kids. Similar in personality, both had an optimistic outlook, a fearless streak, and a love for the adrenaline rush of adventure and danger. Bill had eventually become a hellfighter, and he earned the reputation of being one of the best, traveling the world with his team to put out oil well fires. For a time, MacGyver had worked with him, usually helping to rig the well but deferring to Bill to blow it out. Their last hellfighting mission together had been in Sumatra, and they hadn't seen each other again since then.

Bill had met and married Laura, and she had been supportive of his career until a horrific accident had nearly taken his life. After three months in the burn ward, Bill had recovered, but he lived with the guilt that all three of the men on his crew had died. Afterward, Laura had asked him to make a choice: hellfighting, or his marriage. Although he used to say that he would rather be burned than bored, Bill gave up hellfighting for Laura and had no regrets.

Together, Bill and Laura had moved to the wilderness of Wyoming where they pursued their dream of wildcat drilling. With their partner, Pete Torgut, they began drilling for oil, and all the money they had been able to save and borrow had been poured into the land and the derrick. Nothing was left, and although Bill was confident their well would make them rich, Laura feared that if they didn't realize their dream, Bill would go back to hellfighting.

MacGyver had been close friends with both Bill and Laura, and he visited them in Wyoming just as they struck a gas pocket that signaled the promise of oil. However, sparks from a shattered light bulb ignited the escaping gas, and the oil well exploded, destroying the derrick, their home, and their dream. With a lease that would run out in two weeks, and no way to obtain a fire fighting crew in less than two months, their only option was to put out the oil well fire themselves. Despite Laura's fears, Bill and MacGyver worked together to recreate $5 million worth of equipment with what they could find around them, and they returned to hellfighting once more to cap the well.

From the abandoned Tenstrike Mine, 54 miles away, Bill and MacGyver obtained some badly leaking sticks of dynamite, and using a jeep body as a vehicle, pipes for a track, a refrigerator for insulation, a thermos full of nitroglycerin, and a pulley, Bill and MacGyver were able to approach the fire close enough to drop the explosive charge down the well casing. Because the temperature would increase exponentially 8 to 10 degrees per foot squared as they approached the fire, Laura used a hose to help cool the firefighters and the explosives. Their makeshift equipment was successful, and as the nitroglycerin exploded, it used up all the oxygen, instantly putting out the fire.

Undaunted, Bill intended to remain, to rebuild the derrick and drill the well, and to realize his dream so that he could settle down, raise a family, and brag about the old days. MacGyver offered to extend his stay to help Bill, Laura, and Pete to bring in the well and begin again.

Portrayed by: Cooper Huckabee

Cross Reference: Laura Farren, Tenstrike Mine, Pete Torgut, Wyoming

Episode Reference: Hellfire