Hazardous Materials Hotline©
November 10, 2025
Lessons Learned Reports
The Federal Railroad Administration has issued a safety bulletin stemming from a worker injury and hazardous materials release in July, 2025 and Illinois OSHA has released an incident report from a March 2022 LODD fire.
Discussion: Incident reports, safety bulletin, and related documents provide relevant safety and health information, assist with emergency planning, and provide foundational documents for building training to ensure healthy, safe, and effective emergency operations.
Agricultural Hazardous Materials
Penn State University’s Agricultural Extension has resources to assist in providing emergency responders with information regarding hazardous materials and hazardous operation in the agricultural arena. This includes videos on silo gases, hazards associated with bio-mass production, and confined space manure storage hazards.
Discussion: While often overlooked, agricultural and agriculture support facilities contain a wide assortment of hazardous areas and are home to unique hazard areas. For teams that may be called to rural areas, awareness of these hazards is critical to ensuring safe and effective operations.
DEA National Drug Threat Assessment Released
The U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration has released the 2025 NDTA. The assessment quantifies current and emerging illicit drug use trends.
Discussion: Illicit drugs, including pharmaceuticals, may pose a threat to emergency responders from manufacture through the potential use as a weapon. Responders should become aware of national and regional drug trends and their role in response and mitigation.
Conference and Training News
Upcoming conferences and training events include Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction and Medical Countermeasures membership meeting and Texas Department of Emergency Management Conference (also seeking conference proposals) in May 2026, Canadian CBRNE and Robotics Symposium in April, The Oklahoma HazMat Conference in March, February brings the COHMED conference and Southernmost Hazmat Conference, and January brings the annual Florida Hazardous Materials Symposium and Teams Competition.
Fire Smoke Comparison EV v. Fuel Powered Vehicles Report
ULs Fire Safety Research Institute has published a report comparing the fire smoke from electric and internal combustible engine powered vehicles.
Discussion: The reports indicate that both types of vehicles release significant amounts of hazardous chemicals during fires, with fluoride and heavy metal compounds somewhat higher in electric vehicle fires.
Mass Casualty Terrorist Attacks
A new research article was released examining the prevalence and impact of mass casualty terrorist attacks.
Chemical of the Week
The latest chemical of the week worksheets (nitric oxide and propyne) are out. They provide weekly chemical research training, reflecting incident research during initial response to hazardous materials incidents.
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About the Author:
Dave Donohue is a hazardous materials course developer, educator, and trainer with experience at the local, regional and national level. He is also a Master Exercise Practitioner, firefighter, and emergency manager.
