VENTURA : Old Cans of Ether Prompt Evacuation

More than 90 cans of unstable ether from an old civil defense field hospital were found Thursday in a Ventura maintenance yard in the 300 block of Sanjon Road, causing the evacuation of 30 Ventura city employees.

The four-ounce cans of ether, a gas that becomes unstable over time, has been stored in the maintenance yard for about 30 years, said Barry Simmons, Ventura City Fire Department public information officer.

The city was “in the process of giving some of the field hospital’s goods to Third World countries when a regional coordinator for the state Office of Emergency Services found the ether and said it was very unstable and to call the bomb squad,” he said.

Simmons added that his department had received a warning from the federal government about stored ether. He said he had made several calls but that he was told the ether was no longer in the warehouse. “We let our down our defenses, assuming it was gone,” he added.

Lt. Joe Harwell of the Sheriff’s Department bomb squad said ether is as highly flammable as gasoline. “We transported the cans to our bunker and will dispose of them,” he said.