Fire investigation

The field of “fire investigation” can be divided into two sub areas: technical investigation and chemical investigation. Chemical investigation involves the analysis of fire accelerants in fire debris samples and also the chemical comparison and identification of fire accelerants. In most cases, the chemical analysis of fire accelerants in fire debris samples is a difficult task. Many times the concentration of the fire accelerants in fire debris samples will be very low (trace analysis) and the composition of the fire accelerant may change (e.g. loss of volatiles) during a fire.The complex matrix of a fire debris sample also makes the detection of a fire accelerant a very difficult task due to the numerous other interfering matrix compounds.