
@article{ref1,
title="Rapid on-site identification of hazardous organic compounds at fire scenes using person-portable gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-part 2: water sampling and analysis",
journal="Forensic sciences research",
year="2020",
author="Lam, Rylee and Lennard, Chris and Kingsland, Graham and Johnstone, Paul and Symons, Andrew and Wythes, Laura and Fewtrell, Jeremy and O'Brien, David and Spikmans, Val",
volume="5",
number="2",
pages="150-164",
abstract="Building and factory fires pose a great risk to human and environmental health, due to the release of hazardous by-products of combustion. These hazardous compounds can dissipate into the environment through fire water run-off, and the impact can be immediate or chronic. Current laboratory-based methods do not report hazardous compounds released from a fire scene at the time and location of the event. Reporting of results is often delayed due to the complexities and logistics of laboratory-based sampling and analysis. These delays pose a risk to the health and wellbeing of the environment and exposed community. Recent developments in person-portable instrumentation have the potential to provide rapid analysis of samples in the field. A portable gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) was evaluated for the on-site analysis of water samples for the identification of hazardous organic compounds at fire scenes. The portable GC-MS was capable of detecting and identifying a range of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in fire water run-off, and can be used in conjunction with conventional laboratory analysis methods for a comprehensive understanding of hazardous organics released at fire scenes. Deployment of this portable instrumentation provides first responders with a rapid, on-site screening tool to appropriately manage the run-off water from firefighting activities. This ensures that environmental and human health is proactively protected.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2096-1790",
doi="10.1080/20961790.2019.1662648",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20961790.2019.1662648"
}