Use the tabs below to see session descriptions for each day of the conference.
Ron Huffman – Responder Training Enterprises, LLC
This new presentation is designed to provide students with general information needed to respond to a propane leak involving a bulk transportation vehicle, MC331 tanker or bobtail, bulk storage of 250 gallons and larger, and common residential and portable tanks. Using the built-in options, we’ll conduct a walk-around of a mobile system and discuss safety features found on bobtails, transports, residential above and underground tanks, and motor-fuel tanks.
Learning Objectives:
Brian Ramsey – Emergency Response Training Group
A highly interactive demonstration of the physical and chemical properties of flammable liquids and flammable gases! During this session, participants will witness flash point, flammable range, vapor pressure, boiling point, and vapor density. Additionally, we will be demonstrating the dynamic tendencies of flammable vapors when they encounter oxygen and ignition sources to create the "Boom" that tends to surprise us if we don't fully understand the hazards.
Barry Lindley – Emergency Response Solutions
What are reactive materials, and what makes them that way? Hazardous reactions that you may not realize are happening until it is too late. Where do you find reactive materials? What are Class 4 materials and are they the only ones you have to be aware of? Some weird chemicals that you may not know about.
Adam McFadden – Firehouse Training
Chris Pfaff – Hazmat and Rescue
Step into this tag-team training session that fuses practical, boots-on-the-ground hazmat tactics with strategic-level command insight. From the back of the hazmat rig to the front seat of the command vehicle, this session dives into the reality of managing high-risk flammable liquid incidents across railways, bulk storage facilities, LNG yards, and industrial tank farms.
Key Takeaways & Curriculum Highlights:
Ron Huffman – Responder Training Enterprises, LLC
The course title, "Propane Response, 101 - to Advanced Tactics" describes the path we will follow from beginning to end. What is propane, what are the hazards, preplanning, response, and mitigation tactics that include: doing nothing, vapor dispersion, product control, product transfer, flaring and water injection.
Brian Ramsey – Emergency Response Training Group
A highly interactive demonstration of the physical and chemical properties of flammable liquids and flammable gases! During this session, participants will witness flash point, flammable range, vapor pressure, boiling point, and vapor density. Additionally, we will be demonstrating the dynamic tendencies of flammable vapors when they encounter oxygen and ignition sources to create the "Boom" that tends to surprise us if we don't fully understand the hazards.
Barry Lindley – Emergency Response Solutions
What are reactive materials, and what makes them that way? Hazardous reactions that you may not realize are happening until it is too late. Where do you find reactive materials? What are Class 4 materials and are they the only ones you have to be aware of? Some weird chemicals that you may not know about.
Adam McFadden – Firehouse Training
Chris Pfaff – Hazmat and Rescue
Step into this tag-team training session that fuses practical, boots-on-the-ground hazmat tactics with strategic-level command insight. From the back of the hazmat rig to the front seat of the command vehicle, this session dives into the reality of managing high-risk flammable liquid incidents across railways, bulk storage facilities, LNG yards, and industrial tank farms.
Scott Russell and Ben Bosley – The Meter Guys
By the end of this training, participants will be able to identify meter types, configurations, and sensor technologies; explain chemical properties, toxicology, and corrosive hazards; recognize battery, CNG/LNG, and flammable refrigerant risks; interpret gas monitoring data to support safe tactical decisions; apply PPE, atmospheric monitoring, and decontamination practices; and reduce occupational health risks, including cancer and toxic fire smoke exposures.
Nick Zamiska and Curt Thompson – Bad Day Training
The rapid growth of data center infrastructure introduces unique operational environments that expose emergency personnel to a variety of chemical and electrical risks. This training bridges the gap between cutting-edge technology and safe tactical response for first responders and other support agencies. Covering everything from pre-planning, structural layout, and hazards to strategic response considerations, this class delivers street-smart strategies to confidently approach and mitigate data-center emergencies.
Keith Silverman – Goldshield TEAM LLC
Pete Kirk – Dow Chemical
Intermodal tank containers transport hazardous materials worldwide by ship, rail, and highway, yet many responders are unfamiliar with their design and hazards. This workshop covers container types, construction, markings, pressure and non-pressure tanks, safety systems, and common failure modes. Through real-world incidents, participants will learn to rapidly identify hazards, interpret container features, and apply risk-based strategies for safe, effective response to intermodal tank emergencies.
Adam McFadden – Firehouse Training
Chris Pfaff – Hazmat and Rescue
It is vital that on every hazardous materials emergency scene, we have a system in place to ensure that all downrange, fireground tasks are completed to safely and effectively mitigate any hazardous material and its effects. Incident Command is the standardized structure that allows for a cooperative response within various groups or agencies to coordinate hazmat response activities without compromising decision-making or safety. This session focuses on a risk-based response through the chain of command and the use of tactical checklists as an Incident Action Plan to identify roles and tasks to ensure downrange objectives are met.
This group session will:
Scott Russell and Ben Bosley – The Meter Guys
By the end of this training, participants will be able to identify meter types, configurations, and sensor technologies; explain chemical properties, toxicology, and corrosive hazards; recognize battery, CNG/LNG, and flammable refrigerant risks; interpret gas monitoring data to support safe tactical decisions; apply PPE, atmospheric monitoring, and decontamination practices; and reduce occupational health risks, including cancer and toxic fire smoke exposures.
Bobby Salveson – The HazMat Guys
We take a hard look at the growing disconnect between regulatory training and actual operational performance in the field. As hazards become more complex and technology and artificial intelligence begin to reshape both training and response, the question becomes unavoidable: Are we evolving, or are we falling behind? Are we creating more responders while sacrificing capable ones? When the tones go off, emergencies don’t care about checkboxes.
Keith Silverman – Goldshield TEAM LLC
Pete Kirk – Dow Chemical
Monomers are essential to countless industrial products, but loss of inhibitor, contamination, heat, or improper storage can trigger runaway polymerization reactions with catastrophic consequences. This workshop explains how polymerization occurs, why inhibitors are critical, and how to recognize escalating hazards. Through real-world case studies, participants will learn to identify warning signs and apply safe, risk-based response strategies for transportation, storage, and industrial incidents involving reactive monomers.
Brian Ramsey - Emergency Response Training Group
This course examines the strengths and weaknesses of standard 4-gas instruments that are carried by many hazmat teams and first-arriving fire apparatus. In today’s world, critical decision-making is predicated not only on using instrumentation but on using it correctly. This class covers essential decision-making when using a 4-gas instrument for qualitative and quantitative monitoring at hazardous materials incidents. Participants will understand the following concepts:
Scott Russell and Ben Bosley – The Meter Guys
By the end of this training, participants will be able to identify meter types, configurations, and sensor technologies; explain chemical properties, toxicology, and corrosive hazards; recognize battery, CNG/LNG, and flammable refrigerant risks; interpret gas monitoring data to support safe tactical decisions; apply PPE, atmospheric monitoring, and decontamination practices; and reduce occupational health risks, including cancer and toxic fire smoke exposures.
Michael White – Indiana Department of Homeland Security On May 21st, 2026, a tractor-trailer carrying 31,000 pounds of lithium-ion batteries caught fire alongside Interstate 70 in Hancock County, Indiana. The load was being moved from a vehicle research facility in Wisconsin to a recycler in Ohio. The resulting fire provided numerous lessons learned on dealing with lithium-ion battery fires.
Kevin Johnson – K W Johnson Service
Presented by a retired federal law-enforcement hazmat officer with both local and federal hazmat experience, the session will discuss how hazmat incidents can rapidly transition to federal criminal investigations. Assessment of threats, public-safety sampling and evidence collection, interaction with federal investigators, the process for evidence collection, and the ongoing role of hazmat personnel will be discussed.
By the end of the session, the learner will:
Jeffrey Zientek – HIRT LLC
This class will take the audience through the set-up, team duties, helpful hints, and the “dirty laundry” that was discovered through years of running hazmat incidents. Special and unique incidents will be reviewed, and we will discuss what worked, what didn’t work, and hopefully provide the audience with information that will improve your team. Nothing is spared in this presentation to help run a smooth incident and avoid pitfalls — my losses are your gains!
Scott Russell and Ben Bosley – The Meter Guys
By the end of this training, participants will be able to identify meter types, configurations, and sensor technologies; explain chemical properties, toxicology, and corrosive hazards; recognize battery, CNG/LNG, and flammable refrigerant risks; interpret gas monitoring data to support safe tactical decisions; apply PPE, atmospheric monitoring, and decontamination practices; and reduce occupational health risks, including cancer and toxic fire smoke exposures.
Bobby Salveson – The HazMat Guys
This updated version of our popular myth-busting session explores persistent pseudoscience within the hazardous materials response world. Participants will dissect long-held beliefs, outdated “rules of thumb,” and misunderstood safety protocols that continue to influence training and operations. Through historical analysis, scientific evaluation, and compelling demonstrations (live or video), we’ll expose the roots of misinformationand separate fact from folklore. Attendees will leave better equipped to challenge unsupported claims and elevate the credibility of their response decisions.
Edward Perez – On the Line Training Solutions
Patients often reveal a hazardous environment before monitoring instruments do. This course teaches responders to recognize patient presentations, bystander behaviors, and environmental clues that may indicate a hazardous materials incident. Through real-world case studies, participants will improve situational awareness, strengthen decision-making during the first five minutes, and integrate human indicators with air monitoring to enhance responder safety.
Learning Objectives:
Jody Stanley and Paul Staso – Federal Bureau of Investigation - Detroit
FBI response capabilities with a case study involving the Grand Blanc and Temple Israel response, along with fire and emergency management. HERT members are experts in hazardous evidence collection, crime-scene management, and the processing of forensic evidence in CBRN crime scenes.
Frederick Haas – Geisinger EMS
Having specially trained medical responders as part of the HazMat team affords many advantages. Patient care may be initiated early, often during the decontamination process, instead of waiting until the patient has been fully cleaned (and toxins are allowed to continue their effect on the patient). Additionally, medical responders as part of the entry team permit early recognition of technician exposure, environmental duress, or the onset of other medical emergencies.
Learning Objectives:
Timothy Ferretti – Ferretti Salvage and Recycling
An overview of the construction, a review of incident types, and instruction on the unique safety systems of CNG vehicles. PRD activation times, limits, and locations, and how standard fire tactics can result in delayed activations with catastrophic results. Key system components will be reviewed and handled to allow attendees to become familiar with their functionality.
Edward Perez – On The Line Training Solutions
Transitioning from the classroom to real-world hazardous materials response is one of the biggest challenges that new technicians face. The HazMat Rookie provides practical strategies to bridge those gaps through operational lessons, real-world experiences, and proven decision-making techniques.
Participants will learn how to:
This course prepares responders to operate safely, think critically, and become effective members of their hazardous materials team.
Tiffany Koontz - Kappler
Assessing a hazmat situation using critical thinking and some common sense. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” can be applied to hazmat situations, where a bit of research and logic on the front end can save time and trouble later on. In this session, we will go back to some basics of hazardous materials, their properties, and their behaviors in order to better understand conditions before mitigation efforts begin. Learners will be able to identify key properties of a chemical and explain how those properties can impact the decision-making process of coordinating an incident response.
Steven Noles and Jeff Molenaar – Pfizer
Examine real-world case studies featuring hidden chemical reactions, unusual impacts caused by the area of operations, and equipment failures. Learn rapid tactical-adjustment frameworks, dynamic risk assessment, and field-tested improvisation techniques to safely manage high-stakes, unpredictable hazmat incidents.
Jeffrey Zientek – HIRT LLC
There has been an uptick in mercury responses in the past few years. It is important to ask a lot of questions and have a solid plan before entering a situation. The last thing any fire department or HazMat team wants to do is make the problem worse or contaminate their gear. This course will provide the basics for evaluating a mercury spill call and determining the next steps to be taken. Case studies and tips for approaching a mercury spill will be discussed.
