Fire investigation and ignitable liquid residue analysis--a review: 2001-2007

Next to natural disasters fires cause some of the greatest losses to property and human life around the world. Arson, the deliberate setting of a fire to destroy property or to take a human life, is one of the most difficult crimes to investigate because much of the evidence at the scene is destroyed by the fire. Fortunately, the science of fire investigation is not static and more information to help investigators determine the origin and cause of a fire through careful examination of the scene and laboratory analysis of fire debris is published every year. This review article provides an overview of the scientific literature describing research and best practices in the fields of fire scene investigation as well as ignitable liquid residue analysis. This review is a compilation of articles published between late 2001 and early 2007. Conference proceedings for which full papers have not been published were intentionally excluded from this review. Some of the information contained in this review was presented at the 14th Interpol Forensic Science Symposium held in Lyon, France in October 2004.