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Chemical-analytical investigation of fire products in intermediate storages of recycling materials
(2012)
Organic materials like paper, cardboard, textiles or plastics are mostly flammable. In intermediate storages for recycling products, these materials are stored in large amounts. If fire occurs in these stores, large emissions of smoke and other potentially harmful products are likely. In the present study, the gaseous products released from fires of such materials—for example, because of self-ignition—were investigated. Different fractions (paper/cardboard, textiles and plastics) were crushed at low temperatures (about 80 K) and subsequently allowed to smoulder at different temperatures using the German standard Deutsches Institut für Normung 53436. The gases produced were sampled and analysed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The chemical composition of these gases differed considerably depending on fuel type. For flammable materials without heteroatom, the gases consisted predominantly of toxic compounds like carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Smouldering of materials containing heteroatoms showed, in addition to carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and water vapour, further toxic components containing the heteroatom. Materials containing chlorine produced hydrogen chloride, and materials containing nitrogen produced ammonia and hydrogen cyanide.
Based on forensic evidence, a smouldering fire was observed to have occurred at a murder scene. Identification of a reasonable timeline – specifically the fire dynamics of the ignition and fire growth that occurred coincident with the death that took place – became an important focus of the criminal investigation that followed. The fire service was called when a neighbour saw a grey smoke escaping through the ventilation system of the bathrooms on the roof of the house. One flat door with elevated temperatures was found. The fire fighter who entered the flat first reported later that the flat was completely filled with smoke and all windows were closed. When the fire fighter opened the balcony door, he saw flames on the sofa that he extinguished. Then he found a body on the floor. The autopsy showed later that the victim was dead before the fire started. The police suspected that the murderer probably had deliberately set the fire to destroy evidence. One suspect had been witnessed to be in the flat approximately 2 h before the fire was detected by the neighbour. The aim of this project was to investigate how the fire most likely started and developed.