HUNTINGTON BEACH : Termite Fumigation Process Bugs Tenant

John K. Czechowski says he is really bugged about the extermination of termites that started this week at the city-owned Emerald Cove senior citizens’ housing complex.

Claiming there are dangers in the process, the 74-year-old Czechowski has vowed to sit tight in his book-filled apartment until officials assure him that the city will pay all damages to his belongings that the process might cause and assure him that fumigation is safe.

“I’m not going to move,” he said Friday. “They’ll have to carry me out.”

A city official said that at this point, he doesn’t know what the city will do.

The attack on the termites was launched Monday after a routine annual inspection showed an infestation in the complex’s nine apartment buildings and clubhouse, according to Ron Hagan, the city’s community services director.

About 180 people live in 164 apartments in the rent-subsidized complex.

The termite infestation is advanced and requires fumigation, Hagan said.

The Hydrex Pest Control Co. of California won the extermination work with a bid of $44,735. The job was expected to be finished in about a week.

A Hydrex official said Friday its pesticides are completely safe. The company uses a gas fumigation process that leaves no excess pesticide when the job is done. Special devices are employed to make sure the exterminated area is free of pesticide gases before people are let back in, he said.

The city is paying for accommodations at area motels for up to two nights for displaced tenants who agree to share a room. It will pay just one night for residents who decline to double up. Transportation also will be provided.

“We’re making it as safe as it can get,” Hagan said.

But Czechowski, who said he’s a charter resident who has lived at Emerald Cove since it opened in 1985, voiced doubts that the poisonous gases used in fumigation are safe, particularly for elderly people with asthma, emphysema, pulmonary conditions and other diseases.

Czechowski has circulated flyers to residents, citing potential dangers. He also has written letters to Mayor Jim Silva and other city officials. He learned of fumigation dangers through his years in the construction industry, Czechowski said.

Hagan said there have been no concerns raised by other residents. He said, however, that he has received letters from children of Emerald Cove tenants who have asked the city to do something to keep Czechowski from frightening their parents about fumigation.

The building that contains Czechowski’s apartment was scheduled to be fumigated Monday, but officials bypassed the structure because of his objections, and fumigated a nearby building.

“Right now, I don’t know what we’re going to do, other than to try to work with him,” Hagan said.