NCJ Number
218484
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 52 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2007 Pages: 643-648
Date Published
May 2007
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study tested the ability of the Ignitable Liquid Absorbent (ILA)--a commercial solid absorbent intended to assist fire-scene investigators in sample location and collection--to detect and absorb various amounts of gasoline, odorless paint thinner, and camp fuel on two different substrates after a full-scale burn compared with the performance of an accelerant detection dog and laboratory analysis using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).
Abstract
Overall, the accelerant-detection dog performed well, detecting accelerant on 16 of the 18 panels. The dog did not detect gasoline on a panel of oriented strand board (OSB) and an OSB panel that contained odorless paint thinner. The ILA indicator dye did not perform as well as expected only changing color on the three carpeted panels that contained the paint thinner. The ILA did absorb the odorless paint thinner from five of six panels and the camp fuel from four of six panels; however, the amount of ignitable liquid recovered by ILA from these panels was low relative to the amount of ignitable liquid that remained on each panel. In the room ignited with gasoline, the ILA did not absorb gasoline from any of the six panels tested, even though gasoline was shown to be present on all six panels after the fire. The study conducted accelerated burns in three separate rooms, each room with a different accelerant. Six flooring panels were secured onto the floor of each room. The accelerant was poured onto three flooring panels that consisted of pieces of OSB and three panels that consisted of pieces of OSB with foam carpet pad and carpet stapled to the surface of the OSB. The article describes sample collection and the GC-MS process. 4 tables, 7 figures, and 12 references