Officials Hopeful That Spraying Doused Infestation of Medflies

State and county agriculture officials expressed hope that they have gained the upper hand in the battle against the latest Mediterranean fruit fly infestation after completion of an aerial malathion spraying early Friday over neighborhoods near downtown Los Angeles.

State inspectors checking the work of the computer-aided helicopter team that sprayed the malathion mix declared the aerial spraying a success in terms of coverage. In the hilly Elysian Park neighborhood identified as the heart of the Medfly colony, white 3-by-5-inch cards lashed by rubber band to wooden stakes and set out to catch the malathion rain were covered with brownish dots.

“We got good coverage,” said Dick Penrose of the state Department of Food and Agriculture as he studied the cards late Thursday in the 1600 block of Sargent Place, less than a mile west of Dodger Stadium.

Now, state and county agriculture officials are hoping that the crop-destroying Medflies will eat the corn syrup and malathion droplets scattered over 14 square miles north and west of downtown Los Angeles.

The helicopter team, which launched a 400-foot-wide spray as the two craft crisscrossed the communities of Echo Park, Elysian Park and Silver Lake, used about 800 gallons of the malathion mix before completing the job close to 3 a.m. Friday, officials said. The aerial spraying is the first step in killing off the Medfly, which agriculture officials fear would eventually destroy millions of dollars’ worth of fruit and vegetables statewide if allowed to multiply.

“Our goal is for the wild Medflies to seek out and ingest the droplets, thereby getting a lethal dose,” Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner Leon Spaugy said.

But whether the flies are going for the bait won’t be known for several days. Moreover, because one Medlfy was discovered Thursday near the border of the affected area, there is a chance that the infestation already has spread to other neighborhoods.

Officials plan to release 40 million sterile Medflies a week through the fall beginning Aug. 21. The sterile Medflies were imported from a laboratory in Hawaii.

Officials said they are hoping that the last of the Medflies will die off by late fall without any more aerial sprayings. The same methods were used to eliminate similar Medfly infestations in West Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley in the last year.

If more than one adult Medfly is found in fly traps outside of the area sprayed Thursday, it is likely that an additional aerial spraying will be needed, Spaugy said. About 40 adult Medflies and more than 30 larvae have been found since July 20 in the area bordered by 3rd Street to the south, Los Feliz Boulevard and the Golden State Freeway to the north, Western Avenue to the west and the Harbor and Pasadena freeways to the east.

The latest Medfly was found on Centennial Street, less than two blocks west of the Pasadena Freeway, officials said.

The spraying had caused some outcry from residents who feared it would affect their health or that of their pets, despite assurances from officials that it would not.

On Friday, the county Department of Health Services reported only two phone calls from residents who complained about slight headaches and nausea.

“This is consistent with the last three times, a flood of calls before the spraying and next to none afterward,” said Paul Papanek, a physician in the department.

Susie Rogers, who lives in the heart of the Medfly infestation in the 1600 block of Sargent Place, had few complaints about eradication efforts even though county workers earlier Thursday had stripped all the fruit from her lemon, avocado and grapefruit trees.

“I can live with it,” Rogers said. “I’m just not going to let my 3-year-old eat any leaves or twigs.”

Osvaldo Ortega, 19, stood watch over his black 1982 Buick Regal from the porch of his Echo Park Avenue home shortly before the helicopters passed over his neighborhood. He had covered his car with plastic after learning that the malathion mix would damage the high-gloss finish.

“I watered down the roses too,” Ortega said.

At the Sunset-East carwash on Sunset Boulevard and Alvarado Street, residents Friday shrugged off health concerns but complained that the malathion spray spotted their car paint finishes.

Pilar Verdes of Echo Park said the aerial spraying put tiny brown spots on her white 1988 Chevrolet Camaro. “I’m so mad,” she said.

Carwash owner Unsang Song had a different reaction.

“The cars were lined up even before I opened this morning,” Song said. He expected to wash 400 cars Friday, about double his normal business.

* MEDFLY INFESTATIONS

A look at L.A. County Medfly infestations over the years. See chart, Page 2.