FIRE AND EXPLOSION

Forensic 3 – Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology

Hannah Jean V. Esteban, RCh, LPT - Instructor
 FIRE
❑Fire is a product of the process where oxygen is reacted
with another substance to produce noticeable quantities
of heat and light (flame)
❑In order for a fire to take place there are 3 main
ingredients that must be present: Oxygen, Fuel and Heat
❑The fourth element is the chemical chain reaction that is
the fire itself.
❑For fire to exist, the four elements has to be present
❑oxygen for sustaining combustion,
❑enough heat for raising the material to the ignition
temperature,
❑combustible material or fuel, and
❑subsequent exothermic chain reaction in the material.
❑If one of the components is removed, the fire triangle
collapses and the fire is extinguished.
The fire tetrahedron
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 FIRE AND ARSON
• is the crime of setting a fire with intent to cause
damage.

• Elements of Arson:
1. MALICE - required that the person
responsible for the burning must have
intended the structure to be damaged by
fire, or must have known that there was an
obvious risk that the structure would be
damaged and shown reckless disregard for
this risk
2. BURNING - required that the fire cause
actual damage to the property

3. DWELLING – requires that a place where another person regularly slept (even if the structure was also
used as a business, or was temporarily abandoned at the time)
4. The fourth element required that the dwelling be the property of another.
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 FIRE AND ARSON
• Arson presents a complex and difficult circumstances
to investigate
• Fire – destroys much evidence
• Wet conditions – after extinguishing the fires
• Two key things are important in Arson investigations:
1. Incendiary devices – materials used to start a fire
such as:
a. Initiators
b. Timing devices
c. Candles
d. Electronic timers ➢ The search of the fire scene
2. Accelerants – any combustible material that can must focus on finding the
cause burning examples: fire’s origin, - the origin is
a. Gasoline the a most productive spot
b. Lighter fluid
c. Or mixture of these two
to search for any incendiary
devise or accelerants.
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 TELLTALE SIGNS OF ARSON

Evidence of separate and unconnected fires:

• “Streamers” – used to spread the fire from one
area to another
• Pouring gasoline on the floor
• Oil-soaked rugs to connect the fire from
room to room
• Multiple origins, or multiple V-patter
• V-pattern - caused by radiated heat from
above and by the upward and outward
movement of flames and hot fire gases
when they encounter a horizontal surface
such as a ceiling, an eave, a tabletop, or a
shelf
• Evidence of severe burning on the “floor”
instead of the ceiling of a structure
• Due to a flammable liquid
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 EVIDENCE COLLECTION

➢ Methods to detect accelerants:

• Portable hydrocarbon detectors
• Accelerant sniffing dogs
• Identifiable pour patterns
• Samples such as ash, soot, and porous
materials (may contain excess accelerant) –
must be collected into an airtight container.
Accelerants easily evaporate and evidence will
be lost
• Search for “igniters” such as
• Matches
• Electrical sparking device
• Or parts of a “MOLOTOV Cocktail”

Metallic – impervious to gas

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 ARSON EVIDENCE
ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES

STEAM DISTILLATION – evidence is heated and pushed to a trap by steam. The

trap is dissolved in solvent and analyzed by Gas Chromatography-FID or GCMS

SOLVENT EXTRACTION– evidence is added with a solvent like pentane, or CS2. The solvent
is concentrated and analyzed with GCFID or GCMS
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 ARSON EVIDENCE
ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES

DYNAMIC HEADSPACE PURGE-AND-TRAP/ELUTION -

HEADSPACE VAPORS - Evidence is heated and Evidence is heated and flooded with Ne or He gas to a
the air above it is sampled with a syringe and charcoal strip (absorbent) to absorb compounds, then
analyzed with GC extracted and analyzed with GC

SOLID-PHASE MICROEXTRACTION-
PASSIVE HEADSPACE ABSORPTION/ELUTION - Evidence is Extracted into a SPME and the SPME is
heated and a charcoal strip is placed above it to absorb analyzed with GC
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compounds, then extracted and analyzed with GC 8
 ARSON EVIDENCE
ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES

PRELIMINARY TESTING:
Rhodokrit Powder/Sudan II – testing for the presence of
incendiary materials or chemical compounds such as gasoline,
alcohol, turpentine, kerosene, etc

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 EXPLOSIVES

• Any chemical compound or mixture that

undergo rapid burning or decomposition
by influence of heat, pressure, friction or
shock producing large amount of gas,
heat and sudden pressure effects.
• Is any substance that may cause an
explosion by its sudden decomposition
or combustion.

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CLASSIFICATION AND CATEGORIES OF
EXPLOSIVES

❑ An explosive is a chemical material that is capable of extremely rapid combustion

resulting in an explosion or detonation. Since an adequate supply of oxygen cannot be
drawn from the air, a source of oxygen must be incorporated into the explosive mixture.

❑ Classification according to the speed of reaction:

1. High Explosives (denoting charges) - the speed of its detonation wave equal
to 1000 m/s and pressure equal to thousands or atmospheres. Such intensity
can break a material into fragments long before its opportunity to move
away
Classes of High Explosives:
a. Primary – used primarily to start explosion, can be initiated
with mechanical shock, SENSITIVE to friction and heat,
readily ignited when in contact with flame or sparks
b. Secondary – stable compounds but can be detonated by
primary explosives
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CLASSIFICATION AND CATEGORIES OF
EXPLOSIVES
❑ Classification according to the speed of reaction:
2. Low Explosives (deflagrating charge) - The rate of decomposition are a
relatively slow process, and the wave produced is less than the speed of
sound.

Applied for launching rockets, projectiles from guns and missile

systems
• Primer – use to propel ammunitions
• Igniter – use to initiate explosions ex. Safety fuse
• Propellant – use to launch rockets and missile
❑ Classification according to Application or Design:
1. Military explosives – use in military purposes
2. Industrial explosives
3. Improvised explosive devise (IED)
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 EXPLOSIONS

❑ Is a violent bursting or expansion caused

by the release of mechanical, chemical or
nuclear energy from a confined area.
❑ This is a phenomenon resulting from a
sudden release of energy and it happen
so rapidly that a local accumulation of
energy occurs at the site of explosion
moving outward in various ways.
❑ Implosion – is similar phenomenon
except that energy release is initially
directed inward.
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 EXPLOSIONS

TYPES OF EXPLOSION
1. Mechanical Explosion – It is sudden breaking apart, shattering
or bursting into pieces by internal pressure; as that of gas or
steam boiler; also known as pressure explosion.

2. Chemical Explosion – a source of explosion wherein the source

of this energy comes from an explosive such as gunpowder.

3. Nuclear Explosion – an explosion due to nuclear fusion and

fission of particles

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 EXPLOSION EVIDENCE
ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES

❑ Vapor density method

❑ Bulk Density method
❑ Laboratory Examination
• Physical test: Ocular inspection, weighing the specimen,
sampling
• Sample preparation: Extraction, preconcentration,
derivatization
• Chemical test:
• Confirmatory test: Chromatography, Spectroscopy

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THANK YOU
Mirjam Nilsson

mirjam@contoso.com

www.contoso.com

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THANK YOU

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