Identifying Ignitable Liquids in Fire Debris: A Guideline for Forensic Experts - Tapa blanda

Identifying Ignitable Liquids in Fire Debris: A Guideline for Forensic Experts discusses and illustrates the characteristics of different ignitable liquid products. This guideline builds on the minimum criteria of the ignitable liquid classes defined in the internationally accepted standard ASTM E1618 Standard Test Method for Ignitable Liquid Residues in Extracts from Fire Debris Samples by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. The volume provides information on the origin of the characteristics of these ignitable liquid products and provides a summary of characteristics to demonstrate a positive identification of the particular product class. Topics such as the term ignitable liquid, relevant guidelines for fire debris analysis, production processes of ignitable liquids, fire debris analysis methods, and interferences in fire debris analysis, are briefly discussed as these topics are essential for the understanding of the identification and classification of ignitable liquid residues in fire debris.

Ms. Hendrikse is very active in the forensic fire debris community in Europe. She has been a member of the Fire & Explosions Investigation Working Group (FEIWG) of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) since 2004. As a member of this working group, she has been the driving force in the development and coordination of a European collaborative testing scheme for ignitable liquid analysis in fire debris. She is currently a steering-committee member, and is leading the establishment of a European database of ignitable liquids.

Ms. Hendrikse is involved in the training of national fire investigators, and lecturing on the subjects in her field of expertise to members from the Dutch legal system.

Ms. Hendrikse holds a Master of Science degree in Analytical Chemistry from Leiden University (the Netherlands). Before becoming a forensic scientist at the NFI, she worked as a chemist at the international Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in the Hague for 7 years, the industrial company Hoechst Holland in Vlissingen for 1 year, the printing office Lawson Mardon in Bergen op Zoom for 1 year, and the environmental laboratory SGS Ecocare in ‘s Gravenpolder for 2 years (all located in the Netherlands).