Oil Business Historically a Dangerous but Lucrative Venture for County : Safety: Since 1890, drilling has provided money and security. Now new technology can reduce hazards, but jobs may be drying up.

Oil has always been a dangerous enterprise in Ventura County.

But the money has always been good, and until recently the jobs were available from one generation to the next.

The county has lived with the danger since 1890, when prospectors tapped California’s first gusher near Santa Paula.

“In the good old days, you’d see one of those old drillers, and he’d be missing a couple of fingers,” said Ed Huhn of the Bakersfield-based Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, which represents Ventura County workers. “That was really common back then.”

Oil workers say the job is not as hazardous as it used to be, due to advances in safety technology. But the risk remains.

Cecil Horton, who ran a Pride Petroleum oil rig in Ventura for five years, said the oil business is still full of peril.

“We were pulling a pipe out once and the whole rig turned over,” said Horton, who now manages Cavin’s Oil Well Tools in Ventura. “Luckily, I only broke my jaw.”

Horton said he was a friend of Ronald Johnson and Sean Harris, two of the three men killed during Wednesday’s hydrogen sulfide gas leak, and had actually run the machine they were using when they succumbed to the gas.

“It’s dangerous work, and you have to be aware of everything,” Horton said. “(Hydrogen sulfide) is one of the scariest things, because it can kill you before you know it’s there.”

Taking out a pocket-sized sensor, Horton said he was surprised that workers were apparently not using such a device to monitor the site of the accident. The sensor, which he said costs about $20, contains litmus paper that darkens if it comes in contact with hydrogen sulfide, warning workers that respiratory equipment might be needed.

“This could have saved their lives,” Horton said. “I can’t believe they weren’t using anything.”

The threat of hydrogen sulfide gas is well-known among oil workers, but is not the concern it once was, due to improved safety.

“It’s much safer now than it was then because of the technology,” Huhn said. “Most sites have sensors and alarm devices, and most of our workers have breathing equipment.”

Rick French, a rig supervisor with California Production Service of Ventura, said that when he started in the business as a laborer 15 years ago, workers had to adapt to the perils of their job quickly or suffer injury.

“Safety is the No. 1 concern now,” French said. “Doing things as cheaply and quickly as possible isn’t more important any more.”

Most of the companies in the county are staffed by local residents, many of whose fathers and grandfathers worked the same oil fields.

“It was a more fast-paced, family-based business when I started,” French said. “That has changed.”

Laborers today make $12 to $15 an hour and work eight to 10 hours a day, French said. The money, and promise of upward mobility which many area workers have realized over the years, still attracts hard-working youths to the oil industry.

But jobs today are scarce.

The financial security and comfort that attracted many to the oil business have disappeared. From the Rincon to Piru, the county’s petroleum resources are drying up. Layoffs are common. Longstanding companies have moved from Ventura to Bakersfield or other, more lucrative spots. And some oil officials are saying that there is no future for oil workers in the county.

“We don’t have a union chapter in Ventura anymore,” Huhn said. “There weren’t enough people.”

The oil industry has never been perfect, oil workers say. But it is still better than nothing.

“It’s still a good way to make a living,” French said. “In some ways, it’s better than it’s ever been.”