My name is Todd Burton and I have been in the hazmat resonse side of the house since 1999 and teaching hazmat chemistry to emergency responders since 2003. My primary job is hazmat response for a governmental agency in Southern California. We respond to chemical, biological and radiological emergencies to conduct mitigation to stop the emergency and protect the public. Working for this agency provided me an opportunity to conduct science outreach to middle school, high school and AP chemistry classes. I did a couple of these outreach events and used the prior format. There was NO wow factor, it was more of a BORING factor. I searched ways to bring what we do as hazmat responders and tie it into the chemistry the kids are learning. I created a new program using chemistry demonstrations I found on the web, especially Steve Spangler's demos. He is a great science teacher as his dad was a magician and he was a science teacher, bringing both together. I took a lot of his demos and added my spin and made many new ones. This program took off and won an award! But the best part is to see the kids actually watching and listening to you with anticipation of the next experiment! That was truly a great decade of my life. I was able to share some of this with my kids at their science festivals or just doing presentations for their class. I highly recommend this. I really believe you can be that teacher who captures a kids interest and change their destination to be a great scientist or doctor that may bring great innovations or help to the world. And its all because of the WOW FACTOR!

I also teach for the Industrial Emergency Council that provides training to industry and first responders on hazmat response. We teach everything from chemistry, applied chemistry, instrumentation, mitigation, drug labs, homemade explosive labs and CBRNe response. It is a wide swath of topics!

I dont like to brag about what we do but I do believe in demonstrations and that is why I am creating this website specifically for instructors that teach hazmat chemistry and response to help you bring chemistry to life in the classroom!

I also like to fish for anything but mostly saltwater and make metal art www.tbmetalart.com

My YouTube site is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWttXuH3cYNNkOsORULNXJg

There are playlists on Butane Honey Oil Extraction and Chemcial Suicides.

Thanks for taking a look around and you can email me with any questions at tburton@iectraining.org

Cheers!

Todd Burton