The fire service has spent years turning hazmat into either a horror movie or a checklist. Jake Ryks thinks both are wrong.

Hello Smart Firefighting Community!

Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy.

Jake Ryks is a firefighter and hazmat specialist with the St. Paul Fire Department, assigned to Squad One and Hazmat One. He writes for Firehouse and builds education for The HazMat Guys.

His mission is to strip the mythology out of hazmat and put basic chemistry and pragmatic operations in its place. This conversation moves from what the fire service gets wrong about hazmat, to why preparation beats bravado, to where AI is actually useful on a hazmat scene.

Topics covered:

Why hazmat reads as scary, and how a knowledge gap creates the fear
Going from boring to puzzles, and what makes a good hazmatician
Teaching abstract chemistry through tangible metaphors
The misunderstood idea that hazmat is slow, and why life safety still comes first
Why the fire service comes second to the unprotected civilian
Rising to the occasion versus falling to your level of training
A 2014 house fire rescue and pride in preparedness
Mental health and becoming dangerously competent
Owning mistakes, and the training saw that hangs on Jake's locker
AI and tech in hazmat training and operations, plus an early look at the Haven app

So take a listen to hear what he has to share.