Steven M. De Lisi

Steven M. De Lisi began his career in hazardous materials emergency response in 1982 as a member of the fire department for the city of Newport News, VA. At that time, training resources for this field were limited yet the response team was able to take advantage of training made available through the U.S. Coast Guard base in nearby Yorktown, VA as well as programs that had recently been developed by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM).

In 1997, he joined the ranks of VDEM as a regional Hazardous Materials Officer. In this position he was responsible to coordinate state and federal assets utilized to assist local fire departments faced with hazardous materials incidents and most importantly, to provide initial guidance to personnel on scene.

Most of these incidents did not require the assistance of a hazardous materials response team and he soon learned that many local fire departments, despite their training to the NFPA 472 HazMat Operations level, were unprepared to deal with many smaller, yet equally dangerous events. Furthermore, through his experience in the fire service, he knew that all too often the actions of firefighters during the initial stage of an incident would surely set the tone for the balance of the event. This would include unnecessary exposure of personnel and apparatus, use of water as the universal solution for all problems, and a failure to notify regulatory agencies for assistance.

During his more than 15 years in hazardous materials response and while dealing with hundreds of emergency incidents, Mr. De Lisi compiled notes on each event which then served as the basis for this book. The goal of "Hazardous Materials Incidents: Surviving the Initial Response" is to ensure first-arriving personnel recognize that any incident could involve hazardous chemicals and that what they do is as important as what they don't do. He also realized that not all firefighters have immediate access to assistance as do those in Virginia and therefore sought to provide some guidance and direction on how to proceed during specific types of events.

In 2002, De Lisi transferred from VDEM to the Virginia Air National Guard Fire Rescue where he served as an assistant chief for fire prevention and then deputy chief with responsibility to manage civilian firefighters assigned the 192nd Fighter Wing.

Additional publications include nearly 100 articles on hazardous materials emergency response, many of which appeared in Fire Engineering magazine and its website. This included a monthly website column entitled "Hazardous Materials Survival Tips" that ran from 2006 through 2011.

In recognition of the sacrifice made by firefighters each and every day, all proceeds from sales of "Hazardous Materials Incidents: Surviving the Initial Response" are donated to the National Fallen Fighters Foundation.