Also called: Ignitable Liquids Analyst, Forensic Chemist (Arson)
Tests burned material from fire scenes in a crime lab to find gasoline or other fuels that might show a fire was set on purpose.
Opens a sealed paint can of charred carpet from a house fire, heats it to pull out vapors and runs them through a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. You compare the pattern to a library of fuels, find traces of gasoline and write a report that may go to court.
Estimate; government crime lab pay.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in chemistry or forensic science.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Chemistry, Forensic Science.
Growing about average. Steady at state and federal crime labs.
Medium risk for 10 years. Software matches chemical patterns, but interpreting results and testifying in court stay human.
Classes: Chemistry, Biology, Speech or debate.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.