The development of a novel adsorbent for collecting ignitable liquid residues from a fire scene

•The use of a novel adsorbent to sample ignitable liquid residues from hard surfaces or difficult to reach areas in a fire scene.•The development of a novel adsorbent (limestone and British Fuller’s earth; 10:1%w/w) that is capable of adsorbing a wide range compounds from ethanol to docosane for the positive identification of ignitable liquids as tested in blind laboratory trials and a cold fire scene.•The novel adbsorbent is economical, easy to use and collect, not affected by water suppression and does not interefere with fire investigation protocols.•Suggested improvements of temperature (90°C) and times (6–9h) using Tenax TA® and ATD-GC–MS split flow setting of 40mL/min for the analysis of fire debris to include heavier compounds (n-C24).