DETECTION OF PETROLEUM-BASED ACCELERANTS IN FIRE DEBRIS BY TARGET COMPOUND GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

A gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method has been developed for the analysis and identification of selected petroleum-related target compounds in highly contaminated extracts of fire debris. The process effectively separates compounds of interest from coeluting volatiles originating from the pyrolysis of substrate materials at the fire scene. Files for the identification of gasoline, medium petroleum distillate, and heavy petroleum distillate are used to obtain semiquantitative peak areas for the target compounds. From these data, reconstructed "target compound chromatograms" are generated for visual comparison with standard petroleum samples treated in the same manner. Background patterns for pyrolysis products common to fire scenes have shown dissimilarities to petroleum patterns and pose no risk of false identifications.