LOCAL : Largest Medfly Spraying Effort in O.C. History Is Completed

The largest malathion spraying operation in Orange County history was completed early today after helicopters spent nearly five hours dousing nine cities with the pesticide that agriculture officials hope will rid the area of the Mediterranean fruit fly.

Five helicopters landed at El Monte Airport at 1:30 a.m. today after dropping 2,200 gallons of malathion mixture on Cypress, Garden Grove, Westminster, Santa Ana, Stanton, Los Alamitos, Huntington Beach, Anaheim and Orange, said Anita Brown, a spokeswoman for the state Medfly project.

The spraying began at 8:42 p.m. Thursday, four hours after a Sacramento Superior Court judge denied a last-minute appeal to block the spraying for at least 10 days. The next round of spraying in the Garden Grove area is scheduled Feb. 21.

Garden Grove City Atty. Stuart Scudder said that before the next round of spraying, a hearing will take place in which the state will be asked to “show good cause” for the spraying to continue.

Residents of the towns involved in Thursday night’s spraying started cleaning up after the first of what could be a dozen aerial assaults on the crop-destroying pest.

Alan Trudell, a spokesman for the Garden Grove Unified School District, said all schools in the affected area were ordered to cover outside fountains and lunch tables with plastic prior to the spraying. This morning, schools that did not have the proper materials to cover areas frequented by students hosed down school grounds, and all schools with sprinkler systems were ordered to turn them on prior to the arrival of students, Trudell said.