Goleta Gets New Gas Detectors

After western Goletans were sickened by hydrogen sulfide from a well-drilling project in Ellwood Canyon last October, the city committed to purchasing a better detection system. Fire Station 11 on Storke Road is now home to a Jerome J605, which can detect hydrogen sulfide particles as diffuse as 0.5 parts per billion — a sensitivity more than 6,000 times greater than the old detectors, according to Dave Zaniboni, Santa Barbara County Fire Department information officer. The $17,500 portable unit was paid for by Camino Real Marketplace’s funding of the city’s Public Safety Donation Fund. In 2015, 116 of County Fire’s 175 nuisance smell complaints came from Goleta.