Quarantine Due Over Fruit Flies in L.A. Suburb

The discovery of Oriental fruit flies in Hawaiian Gardens will prompt the state to impose a quarantine on fruits and vegetables in parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties, officials said today.

The quarantine likely will be imposed on Thursday or Friday, said Jera Curry, spokeswoman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture. The area to be quarantined covers 81 square miles in a 4 1/2-mile radius around Hawaiian Gardens, which is about 20 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

The quarantine will prohibit movement of fruits and vegetables from the restricted area.

Last week, eight flies were trapped in four different locations within Hawaiian Gardens, Curry said. She added that last Wednesday, another fly was caught in the Orange County community of Garden Grove, where an eradication effort is already under way.

Treatments to halt the spread of flies in Hawaiian Gardens began last week, using a combination of sex lures to trap the male flies and a pesticide called Naled.

Oriental fruit flies damage such major crops as apples, apricots, avocados, bell peppers, tangerines, oranges, lemons and limes.

“We are fortunate that Hawaiian Gardens is not a heavy fruit growing area,” Curry said. Still, he said, people should not be “picking fruit off their own peach tree and taking it to their Aunt Jane in Beverly Hills.”