Gas Odor Prompts Evacuation of UC Santa Barbara Science Building

The smell of gas prompted the evacuation of a Physical Sciences building on UC Santa Barbara’s (UCSB) campus Monday, November 3.

At 10:08 a.m., Santa Barbara County Fire, UC Police, and UCSB Environmental Health & Safety responded to the campus for reports of a gas odor at the Technology Management Building near Campbell Hall.

At 10:25 a.m., UCSB issued an alert to students and faculty that the Physical Sciences North building was being evacuated and to avoid the area.

Santa Barbara County Firefighters determined tertiary butyl mercaptan had escaped from a lab hood exhaust system. “This compound has an extremely strong odor and can be detected by smell at very low concentrations, well below hazardous levels,” the Fire Department stated.

The compound is also colorless, but a flammable liquid with a strong, foul odor, most famous for being added to natural gas to act as a leak-detection agent.

Both the Technological Management and adjacent Physical Sciences North buildings were evacuated, estimated to contain about 150–200 people.

Crews cleared the buildings and announced safe re-entry at 11:05 a.m.