Fire is mainly employed at a crime scene to either cover up the existence of another crime, as a method of revenge, retaliation, to collect insurance or simply utilized at the delight of the individual who set it. Unfortunately, fire is not so easily controlled in a civilized setting and can be catastrophic in effect. According to the National Fire Protection Association, fires set intentionally cause hundreds of deaths and injuries annually, as well as billions in property damage. In the year 2000, over 4000 Americans lost their lives in a fire (1). However, the National Fire Protection Association, or NFPA, only reports that less than a quarter of culprits responsible are arrested. This is due to the fact that it is incredibly difficult to
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Each exemplary item of debris was burned under varying levels of temperature and oxygen availability. 21 evidentiary substrates utilized for comparison are frequently found in household items and materials with ILR, the rest without. All products selected for examination were collected locally and analyzed before and after burning using the ASTM method (1). After the initial before-burning analysis was completed, each sample was placed into a new sterilized unlined paint can containing the ACS probe in the headspace, sealed, and heated in an oven at 80 degrees Celsius for 12-16 hours (1). Volatile compounds were extracted from the ACS, and the samples underwent Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS). Then, Almirall and Fulton administered controlled pyrolysis burning in order to provide a classification standard of what pyrolysis products can be expected at a crime scene under certain conditions. This was achieved by placing a small piece of the sample into a pyrolyzer without air and pyrolyzed for 25 seconds at 800 degrees Celsius. After pyrolysis, the samples were placed into new individual paint cans, ignited, and left to burn for two minutes in the controlled setting. To simulate the extinguishing of an actual fire, the burning substrates were extinguished either by spraying the material with 10 milliliters of …show more content…
Firstly, it doesn’t appear that a simplified threshold of acceptance was established throughout all analyses. What compounds are considered to be more relevant than others? What quantity of a specific compound must be considered acceptable? How can it be confirmed that each controlled burning experiment was indeed free of other contaminants before and during the combustion process? Would the exterior environment of an actual crime scene cause these results to differ? Perhaps the collection of a reference standard of as much unburned material as possible could help to create a more defined standard. For example, as noted in the report, the GC-MS parameters used only included the detection of compounds at the same degree and higher of toluene. How can it be assured that the presence of a compound containing a boiling point lower than toluene would not significantly hinder or mask the extraction of other ILR mixtures? Generally, it seems as if the detection parameters set throughout the analyses and detection protocols were almost too restrictive in nature. This could be due to a lack of prior knowledge base of the most common types of background, pyrolysis, and combustion products found at crime scenes, or because the question at hand is simply too broad to provide more precise parameters. Yet, within the parameters
Each exemplary item of debris was burned under varying levels of temperature and oxygen availability. 21 evidentiary substrates utilized for comparison are frequently found in household items and materials with ILR, the rest without. All products selected for examination were collected locally and analyzed before and after burning using the ASTM method (1). After the initial before-burning analysis was completed, each sample was placed into a new sterilized unlined paint can containing the ACS probe in the headspace, sealed, and heated in an oven at 80 degrees Celsius for 12-16 hours (1). Volatile compounds were extracted from the ACS, and the samples underwent Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS). Then, Almirall and Fulton administered controlled pyrolysis burning in order to provide a classification standard of what pyrolysis products can be expected at a crime scene under certain conditions. This was achieved by placing a small piece of the sample into a pyrolyzer without air and pyrolyzed for 25 seconds at 800 degrees Celsius. After pyrolysis, the samples were placed into new individual paint cans, ignited, and left to burn for two minutes in the controlled setting. To simulate the extinguishing of an actual fire, the burning substrates were extinguished either by spraying the material with 10 milliliters of …show more content…
Firstly, it doesn’t appear that a simplified threshold of acceptance was established throughout all analyses. What compounds are considered to be more relevant than others? What quantity of a specific compound must be considered acceptable? How can it be confirmed that each controlled burning experiment was indeed free of other contaminants before and during the combustion process? Would the exterior environment of an actual crime scene cause these results to differ? Perhaps the collection of a reference standard of as much unburned material as possible could help to create a more defined standard. For example, as noted in the report, the GC-MS parameters used only included the detection of compounds at the same degree and higher of toluene. How can it be assured that the presence of a compound containing a boiling point lower than toluene would not significantly hinder or mask the extraction of other ILR mixtures? Generally, it seems as if the detection parameters set throughout the analyses and detection protocols were almost too restrictive in nature. This could be due to a lack of prior knowledge base of the most common types of background, pyrolysis, and combustion products found at crime scenes, or because the question at hand is simply too broad to provide more precise parameters. Yet, within the parameters