Feature Article 6 Chemical Suicides Your Hazmat Crew Needs to Prep for By Kevin Ryan The Baltimore City Fire Department recently encountered a hydrogen sulfide suicide in a vehicle in the southwest portion of the city. BCFD has not seen many of these in the past 5 years. The first-in suppression officer quickly recognized the situation and requested hazmat. The notification immediately set up the incident for […] Written by Kevin Ryan June 30, 2022July 1, 2022
General Important Releases HazSim, Hazmat Nation Raise Money for Firefighter Cancer HazSim and Hazmat Nation hosted its 5th annual networking event at IAFC’s hazmat conference and raised money for the Firefighter Cancer Support Network More than 200 hazmat professionals attended the fifth annual Hazmat Nation networking event last week in Baltimore in conjunction with the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ hazmat conference. “This gathering has been […] Written by Phil Ambrose June 17, 2022June 17, 2022
Important Releases Tech Talk Training HazSim Plays Key Role in Hazmat Training Event, Video A large Florida hazmat team put their equipment and personnel through ultra-realistic training and made a high-quality video to share with other teams When Polk County (Fla.) Fire Rescue’s hazmat team wanted to conduct a high-impact training event for a common, but volatile hazard, it turned to HazSim to provide enhanced realism. The team went […] Written by Phil Ambrose April 21, 2022April 21, 2022
Tech Talk FarrWest presents: Hazardous Gas Tactical Response – Technology Advances During this FREE to attend, one hour presentation, which will include an introduction to HAZSIM, highly experienced Instructor, Michael Parsons will give a brief overview of multiple actual events. Using one of these scenarios as a vehicle for discussion and demonstration on the use of hand-held portable sensors (multi-gas and PID). The tutorial will explain the […] Written by Staff Writer April 15, 2022April 15, 2022
Tech Talk From our Readers: How to Buy Gas Meters Recently one of our readers posted an interesting and practical question on one of our social media channels. And he got some interesting and useful advice. In fact, it made us wonder how many more of our readers are wrestling with the same problem and how many more readers may have different solutions. After you’ve […] Written by Phil Ambrose March 25, 2022March 25, 2022
General Training Colo. Hazmat Instructor Talks Hazmat Training We were so impressed with Colorado’s Boulder County Hazmat Team when we featured them in Hazmatters this past summer, that we wanted a deeper dive into how they train. Instructor Neil Sheets obliged by pulling back the curtain for us to have a peek at how this young hazmat team tackles the demands of training […] Written by Phil Ambrose March 24, 2022March 24, 2022
Training Quick Guide: When to Call Hazmat Teams, and When not to In this short video clip, I walk you through a quick overview of my class at this year’s FDIC helping firefighters and officers understand when to wait for the hazmat team and when to take initial steps themselves. Most often, assembling a hazmat team takes time. And that’s time viable victims don’t have. Here are […] Written by Phil Ambrose March 3, 2022March 4, 2022
General Roundtable: How to Buy Hazmat Suits As with any fire service purchase, when it comes to buying hazmat protective suits, you want the best suit for the money. And like other purchases, that involves more than going with the low-cost option or the option with the most bells and whistles. To help us better understand how to get the right suit […] Written by Phil Ambrose October 20, 2021October 22, 2021
Training HazSim “making it real” HazSim Pro training system has been used to train across the U.S since 2011. Trainers in HazMat and Confined Space realized that ‘tapping the student on the shoulder’ was NOT effective training. This system uses NO hazardous materials and, although it may not look exactly like your front line meter, shows the important data which all […] Written by Phil Ambrose July 8, 2021July 8, 2021
