Methods for collecting vaporous material residues and evidence from a fire investigation site

Abstract

This study aims to answer the question of how the collection of materials and residues containing relevant information from fire investigation sites can be improved. According to previous good practice, in addition to solid or liquid residues collected during fire investigation site inspections, can vapour/gas residues also be collected in such quantity and quality that they also have evidentiary value during the fire investigation or, where applicable, criminal proceedings of the associated authorities? A further aim was to ensure that the presented method integrates seamlessly into the currently available sampling kit system and that sampling efficiency also increases as a result of examining the new physical state. The presented methods are capable of collecting samples with evidentiary value in situations that were previously impossible. Sampling is also possible in cases where the exact location of the possibly present combustion accelerator cannot be determined.