Maywood-Bell Area Infested : Aerial Spraying Targets L.A.’s Pesky Medfly

Two boom-equipped helicopters took to the air Thursday night to spray the pesticide malathion over a 22-square-mile area southeast of downtown Los Angeles in an effort to halt a Mediterranean fruit fly infestation.

The Bell helicopters, under contract to the state Department of Food and Agriculture, took off from El Monte Airport and began the low-altitude aerial treatment about 9 p.m., spraying 200-foot swaths of the infested area. The job was expected to take several hours.

State and county agriculture officials are hoping to get the outbreak to manageable proportions so that a scheduled release of millions of sterile male Medflies in the area beginning on Monday can complete the job.

Residents of about 74,000 homes in the Maywood-Bell area were advised to stay indoors during the spraying in their neighborhoods, to wash the mixture of pesticide and bait from their skin if they are exposed and to cover cars and trucks left outdoors.

But Los Angeles County Agriculture Commissioner Paul Engler told an afternoon press conference he is sure that the malathion spraying program is safe because of the low doses of the pesticide used in the operation.

“We wouldn’t be using malathion bait if it weren’t totally safe for people and their pets,” he said.

After spraying once and waiting until Monday for the pesticide to dissipate, Engler said the area will be flooded with 50 million sterile male Medflies a week for 60 to 90 days as part of a massive birth control program.

“They literally breed themselves out of existence,” he said.

So far, according to Engler, 36 Medflies have been found in traps in the spray zone--bounded on the north by Washington Boulevard, on the west by Santa Fe Avenue, on the south by Firestone Boulevard and on the east by Garfield Avenue.

“We’re talking the biggest threat to California agriculture that I can imagine because right here in Los Angeles County we have a springboard for a spread to the entire Southern California (region), including the fruit-producing areas of Orange and Ventura counties,” he said.

Medflies are particularly dangerous because they infest more than 200 varieties of produce, reproduce rapidly and survive in ranges of climate, he said. A statewide infestation in 1981-82 caused an estimated $73 million in crop damage and cost nearly $100 million to eradicate.

Engler, leader of the multi-agency eradication effort, estimated that the current operation will cost from $700,000 to $730,000 and take from 30 to 40 days to determine whether it has been successful.

The first female Medfly was found July 27 on Dacotah Street, south of Boyle Heights. When others were trapped, officials sent ground crews in to spray malathion on fruit trees and imposed a quarantine on fruit grown and sold in a 76-square-mile area.

Engler suspects that the current infestation came from fruit illegally shipped into California by mail or brought in by tourists.

“I can assure you, the fly didn’t fly in. It’s being carried in by people,” Engler said.