TY - JOUR
PY - 2020//
TI - 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
JO - Forensic sciences research
A1 - Lam, Rylee
A1 - Lennard, Chris
A1 - Kingsland, Graham
A1 - Johnstone, Paul
A1 - Symons, Andrew
A1 - Wythes, Laura
A1 - Fewtrell, Jeremy
A1 - O'Brien, David
A1 - Spikmans, Val
SP - 150
EP - 164
VL - 5
IS - 2
N2 - 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. Language: en
LA - en
SN - 2096-1790
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20961790.2019.1662648
ID - ref1
ER -