Patrick Durham

One year ago today I was walking through the Palisades wildfire disaster zone with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It’s hard to describe what it feels like to stand in a place where entire neighborhoods were wiped out. Streets where homes once stood were reduced to foundations, twisted metal, and ash. You could see the scale of it everywhere you looked. A year later the debris has been cleared, but rebuilding is slow. Very few homes have actually gone back up since my visit. Recovery from a disaster like that doesn’t happen quickly. For a lot of families, the impacts are still very real. youtu.be/i6zgji508gE?si…

I’ll be speaking next week at the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) Greater Atlanta Annual Fire Safety Conference & Expo. 🕙 My session: 10:40 AM 🗓 March 11, 2026 📍 Gas South District I’ll be presenting on the real-world challenges around lithium-ion batteries and battery recycling, including how they’re actually being stored today and what it means for fire safety. If you’re attending the conference, stop by the session and say hello.

A little outside my normal battery content, but this rescue was too incredible not to cover. On February 28th in Gregg County, Texas, two people were left hanging 920 feet in the air after their hot air balloon became tangled in a radio tower. For this video I also interviewed the operational commander from the Longview Fire Department and the Tower King II crew that later removed the balloon from the tower. Watch the full breakdown: youtube.com/watch?v=G8zeoL… #firefighter #technicalrescue #fireservice #rescue

@brianoflondon Definitely a bad idea.

The scooter charger is not a great idea in a bomb shelter. @stachedtraining

Over three years, the UL Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) conducted full-scale burns on electric and gas vehicles to analyze what’s actually in the smoke. Six Electric Vehicles. Three internal combustion vehicles. Metals. Fluoride. PAHs. PFAS. And laboratory testing to determine whether the particulate matter could cause genetic damage. This isn’t opinion. It’s peer-reviewed data. If you respond to vehicle fires, investigate them, tow them, or operate around them — this matters. Watch here: youtu.be/JAulSvAphu0 #FSRI #FireService #EVFires #VehicleFires #LithiumIon #FirefighterSafety #OccupationalExposure #BatterySafety #SCBA

This was my original studio. Basement corner. Black backdrop. Folding table. One light. Concrete walls. No production crew. No budget. Just an idea and a camera. A lot has changed since then, but the mission hasn’t. Keep learning. Keep testing. Keep explaining the hazards in a way that actually makes sense. You don’t need perfect. You need to start. #ContentCreation #FireService #LithiumIonBatteries #EVFires #Education #KeepBuilding

I see a lot of talk about “Fire Class L” and lithium-ion certified extinguishers. Here’s the reality: there is no globally recognized certification for lithium-ion battery fires. There is a test in the Netherlands — but it doesn’t mean what most people think it means. In this video, I break down NTA 8133, what it actually tests, and where the limitations are. Watch here: youtu.be/qYMgQij3ZqM

I’ll be speaking at FDIC International 2026. FDIC is where hands-on training, serious education, and real industry connections come together. Early bird savings end March 6. Register now: i.snoball.it/p/G35znZaK/t/19 #FDIC2026 #FDICInternational #FireService #FireTraining #FireLeadership #FireOfficer #FirstResponders #FireInstructor #TruckCompany #Fireground

I’ll be speaking at TEEX this May at the First Responder Summit in College Station, TX. Lithium-ion battery and EV fires don’t behave like the incidents most of us were trained on. They escalate fast, last longer, and carry risks that aren’t always obvious when crews first arrive. I’ll be digging into what actually drives that behavior and what fire departments need to understand before they encounter one of these incidents on the street. May 12–14 | College Station, TX teex.link/4tnrHov #FireService #Firefighters #EVFires #LithiumIonBatteries #FirstResponderTraining #TEEX #FireOfficer #ResponderSafety

Lithium-ion battery fires aren’t just hard to extinguish—they behave differently. Long burn times, re-ignition, delayed failure, and high exposure risk change how incidents unfold and how responders have to manage the scene. Treating them like conventional fires is how people get hurt. youtu.be/aWfvnijhkFY #FireService #BatteryFires #EVFires #FirefighterSafety #HazMat #EmergencyResponse

Calling a lithium-ion battery “end-of-life” makes it sound inert. In reality, many still contain significant energy, internal damage, and unknown history. That combination is exactly what makes them dangerous in storage, recycling, and transport. youtu.be/nqm3TDieKHg #LithiumIonBatteries #BatteryRecycling #FireSafety #ThermalRunaway #HazMat #RiskAwareness

Mixed battery streams are one of the most common precursors to lithium-ion battery fires in recycling and storage facilities. Different chemistries. Different states of charge. Different damage histories. We mix them anyway—and then act surprised when something fails. youtu.be/xau7owWaXbw #LithiumIonBatteries #BatteryRecycling #BatteryFires #FireSafety #ThermalRunaway #IndustrialSafety

OSHA just clarified how lithium-ion battery injuries must be recorded in the workplace. That means incidents are happening — and they’re being tracked. Your facility likely has more batteries than you realize. If you need help with fire risk assessments, fire prevention documentation, emergency action plans, or lithium-ion battery training, reach out. I break down what this OSHA guidance means, and why waiting until after an incident is the wrong approach. Watch here: youtu.be/7ruRWJeYk4Q #LithiumIon #WorkplaceSafety #OSHA #BatterySafety #FirePrevention #EmergencyPlanning

“Just discharge the battery” gets suggested a lot. Discharge doesn’t undo internal damage. It doesn’t fix separator failure. And it doesn’t eliminate thermal runaway risk. It’s a tool—not a solution. #LithiumIonBatteries #BatterySafety #ThermalRunaway #FireSafety #EVFires #RiskManagement

A lithium-ion battery doesn’t have to fail immediately to be dangerous. Crush damage, bending, vibration, or internal shorts can lead to delayed failure—sometimes hours or even days later. That delay is what catches people off guard. youtu.be/W178cbeetfE #LithiumIonBatteries #BatteryFires #FireSafety #ThermalRunaway #EVFires #RiskAwareness

We keep calling lithium-ion battery fires “rare.” But frequency isn’t what matters when the severity, duration, and risk to responders are this high. That’s a risk management failure—not a statistics problem. Video breakdown: youtu.be/hZzz776nZBs #FireSafety #LithiumIonBatteries #BatteryFires #EVFires #RiskManagement #FireService

@n4hpg Terrifying. Hopefully it was only used briefly for the content creation.

@stachedtraining What could possibly go wrong? I'm now recommending Victron LFP batteries to my friend who want/need them for emcomm purposes. One hopes their UL listing means something.

I offer in-person training focused on lithium-ion battery and EV hazards, including damaged and end-of-life batteries. The class is built around real incidents, how these batteries actually fail, what the fire behavior looks like, and practical decision-making on scene—not theory. Classes can be tailored to your department’s apparatus, response profile, and call volume. If your department responds to EVs, battery fires, garages, warehouses, or recycling operations, this training is designed for you. #Firefighters #FireService #EVFires #LithiumIonBatteries #BatteryFires #FireTraining #HazMat #EmergencyResponse #FireOfficer

A warehouse was destroyed by a single pallet of e-scooter batteries. A lot of facilities are handling high-energy batteries without anyone on site trained on failure modes, fire behavior, or post-incident hazards. That gap shows up eventually—usually as an incident. youtu.be/vNelburiNes #FireSafety #LithiumIonBatteries #BatteryFires #Warehouses #RiskManagement

I’ll be speaking at SFPE Greater Atlanta this March. My session takes a hard look at damaged, defective, and recalled lithium-ion batteries and why end-of-life batteries are behind some of the worst fires we’re seeing in storage, transport, and recycling facilities. I'll break down how damage actually leads to failure, why mixed battery streams are such a problem, where current standards fall short, and what needs to change if we want to get ahead of these incidents instead of reacting after the fact. #FireSafety #LithiumIonBatteries #BatteryRecycling #EnergyStorage #IndustrialSafety #FireProtection #RiskManagement