Fire Debris Analysis Services
Crane Engineering’s Laboratory Services Group has the proper equipment and helpful analysts to assist insurance agents, fire investigators and others investigating incidents who require fire debris testing. We strive to provide quality analytical service to our customers with timely results and a comprehensive report detailing our testing.
Our method is based on ASTM Standards E 14121-00 and ASTM E 1618-01, which are the industry standards for identifying components of ignitable liquids in an evidence sample.
An ignitable liquid residue (ILR) is the remains of a flammable liquid used as a catalyst to propagate a fire. Investigators can collect samples from a fire scene that they suspect contain ignitable liquid residues and submit them in an air-tight container to an analyst at Crane Engineering.
Once the sample arrives at our laboratory it is our job to determine if there is an ignitable liquid residue present in the fire debris. The sample will be extracted utilizing passive headspace adsorption. An activated charcoal strip is introduced into the container; the container is sealed and then placed into an oven at low heat for 12-16 hours.
When the extraction is complete the charcoal strip is removed from the container and is treated with an organic solvent that will remove any ignitable liquid residue that was adsorbed onto the strip from the sample. The solvent is then analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy, which allows us to determine the sample’s compound structure and relative concentrations. By comparing the sample chromatogram with reference chromatograms we are able to classify the ignitable liquid residue based on ASTM standards.
Eight major ASTM classes of ignitable liquids may be identified by gas chromatography when suitable peaks for comparison are present:
- Gasline
- Petroleum distillates
- Isoparaffinic products
- Aromatic products
- Naphthenic-paraffinic products
- Normal alkane products
- De-aromtized distillates
- Oxygenated solvents
Crane Engineering provides free ILR sampling kits to clients. Please contact Kerri Schnell to obtain a sampling kit. The sampling guidelines are available here as a pdf.
Kerri can also provide additional information on ignitable liquid residue analysis techniques and answer any questions you may have.