Fire Chemistry and Forensic Analysis of Fire Debris

Abstract

As the combustibles are almost in contact with the oxidizers and mostly all conditions are available to start a fire, this review covers the fire scene which could be intentionally or unintentionally started using a combustible liquid. The first step in the way of investigation is identifying the starting point of the fire, followed by knowing the causes of the fire and collecting fire debris samples to determine the presence of ignitable liquid residues. The fire debris collected from the crime scene is subjected to different extractions that including solvent extraction, distillation, headspace, and solid phase micro-extraction. Among the commonly used extraction methods, headspace and solid phase micro-extraction are on top because they are fast, solvent-less, and have no loss of sample concentration. The sample is usually analyzed by the gas chromatography technique, which is the most sensitive and effective method for detecting and characterizing ignitable liquid residues, to identify the components.

Keywords

• fire chemistry
• ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏fire debris
• ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏ instrumental analysis
• chromatography͏͏͏͏͏