Chemistry of Hazardous Material

I have taken the fire course associated with this series of books and this edition is the best yet. I found the dry material very easy to read and very firefighter friendly. The class I took taught out of the 4th edition but I was able to follow along with this edition. Set up very nice.

This was required for a chemistry class. However, it was generally an easy read for grad school and presented a new way of looking at chemistry.

This is a well organized and indexed fire science text which is a useful reference for anyone who works with hazardous materials on a daily basis. It explains DOT regulations and how the regs are actually related to the chemistry of the materials. It explains the chemistry behind proper transport, handling, and storage of most major commodity chemicals and offers guidlines for emergency planning and response. The author does a good job of introducing/reviewing the concepts of chemistry with a clear focus on reactions which can lead to disaster. Two flaws: the writing is repetative, at times you can sense that the author/editiors were a bit tired of the text or in a hurry to get it to the press. The illustrations are O.K. but the black and white photos are AWFUL. Mr. Meyer, if you read this, go back and re-do all the photos for the next edition. I work at a RCRA TSDF and have found the text very useful for myself and our new employees who have studied chemistry but do not have a firm grasp of DOT and fire safety.