Maricopa County fogging to stop mosquitoes
May 19, 2014, 5:00 AM | Updated: 5:00 am
PHOENIX — Maricopa County Environmental Control is hard at work trying to limit mosquitoes in the Valley.
The department has been fogging areas to fight the pests since last month.
It decides to fog an area once it finds certain insects in its mosquito traps.
“Thirty or more of the Culex type of mosquito, which is the species that most likely would carry West Nile Virus, or if we find a trap with over 300 of any kind of mosquito species,” said Environmental Control Public Information Officer Johnny Dilone.
He said that they started fogging after finding mosquitoes in both the east and west valleys.
“So far this year, we have had over 40 Culex exceedances,” said Dilone. “Due to this, over 9,000 acres have already been treated.”
But so far, there has actually been less fogging than in recent years.
“We’ve been seeing a drop or trending down in fogging,” Dilone said. “This is due to us finding the sources sooner, being more aware and treating areas sooner.”
Dilone said that with the monsoon season still to come, it’s too early to tell whether we’ll see more of the pests than we have in recent years.
