About

Who We Are

Houghtons, Inc. is a small privately held veteran-owned company that provides training, test methods, and technical assistance to public and private sector organizations responsible for emergency response. Clients include federal, state, county, and city governments, public schools and universities, private businesses, and non-profit community groups. Our team of experienced professionals synergistically supports our clients’ goals and objectives through our specialized training and support offerings by drawing upon our decades of fire service, law enforcement, medical (EMS), and military expertise.

Our Mission

Our team provides timely and professional training and support solutions to the first responder and military communities. Our team is comprised of professionals who model our solutions based upon their decades of knowledge and field experience serving their communities with excellence. Our work ethic is simple: get the job done, and to the highest standards!

Our Team

Bill Bennett

President

Following his retirement from the United States Air Force in 2017, Bill brought his 30+ years of knowledge and experience in EMS and CBRNe analysis to HazardID.com. As a founding and long-term member of the 51st WMD Civil Support Team (CST) (2002-2017), Bill served as the medic for the team but also as the sustaining presence in the analytical laboratory system for 14 years. Supporting numerous support and response missions Bill accumulated priceless knowledge and experience supporting local, state, and federal partners. Bill holds a Master of Science degree from Cornerstone University.

David Buck

Training and Support Consultant

David served 25 years with the Michigan State Police (1995-2020), including, most recently, 18 years of training and hazardous devices/materials response with their nationally-recognized Bomb Squad. He teamed up with HazardID.com in 2016 to further support public and private sector partners enhance their bomb threat/suspicious package preparedness and response capabilities. David has designed commercial tools to streamline bomb squad robot response and shares a U.S. patent with two others who recently developed a remote chemical sampling instrument (ChemThief TM). David currently works in a specialized corporate security role and writes for and edits an international magazine geared for bomb technicians and investigators. He trained as a teacher and holds a B.S. in Natural Science from Michigan State University.

Rick Houghton

President Emeritus (Retired)

Retired after 40 years as a first responder and trainer. Rick’s career began as a firefighter, paramedic and hazardous materials trainer. He has extensive experience as a professional trainer and course developer. Rick is also a published author several times over.

Over 20 Years of Experience Creating the Foundation for All Our Programs

Whether you’re looking for training exercises for first responders, courses identifying unknown chemicals and biohazard materials, fire, police, and hazmat training, or other skill development, we offer it all here at HazardID.com.