When investigating a vehicular fire, a primary job of arson investigators is to confirm the identity of any ignitable liquid used as a fire accelerant. This can be complicated due to the presence of the vehicle’s fuel and also because there are many objects and materials inside and on the exterior of vehicles that, when burned, produce chemicals that interfere with the relevant chemical analyses. It is important, therefore, for investigators to be aware of the chemical characteristics of the substrates that may be involved and the products they may form when combusted.<br/>To explore these issues in a specific way, we studied the chemicals associated with the combustion of automobile seat cushions using 87-octane gasoline as a fire accelerant. Both passive headspace analysis and solvent extraction, in conjunction with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS), were employed, and an internal standard was used to help quantify a subset of compounds. The results indicate that although analytical interferences are introduced by seat cushion combustion, the presence of relatively interference free chromatographic regions enables gasoline identification. Arson investigators can use these regions to help confirm (or rule out) the likelihood of 87-octane gasoline as a fire accelerant in seat cushion combustion.

Investigation of chemical interferences in vehicle arson accelerant identification

249th National Meeting (2015)

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