Red Fire Ant Quarantine Begins in O.C.

Orange County on Thursday became the first California county to be quarantined for red fire ants, reflecting growing concerns that the stinging insect could spread beyond the 50 square miles it has infested in the county.

The quarantine, announced Tuesday, became official shortly before noon Thursday, and officials at the state Department of Food and Agriculture immediately notified regulators in surrounding states.

Nursery plants and sod are the chief targets of the quarantine, because experts fear that fire ants will be transported in soil from Orange County to other areas of California and the west. Fire ants have been detected at 16 Southern California nurseries, including five in Orange County, a major source of nursery exports.

Quarantine rules are not expected to have much effect on homeowners, although they are urged not to move outdoor potted plants within or outside the county. No checkpoints will be used on the county’s borders.

For decades, fire ants have infested 11 Southeastern states, stinging people, livestock and wildlife, eating plants and damaging electrical equipment. The sting can be fatal to the small portion of the population allergic to fire ants.

Not until 1998 was the ant known to have gained a foothold on the West Coast. The state announced in November that fire ants had been found in the Trabuco Canyon area, and they have since been detected in 15 Orange County cities, from Los Alamitos east to Yorba Linda and south to Laguna Niguel and San Juan Capistrano.

Ants have also been found in some areas of Los Angeles and Riverside counties, where partial quarantines may be invoked.

State Agriculture Secretary William Lyons Jr. signed the emergency Orange County regulation this week, and it then was reviewed and approved by the state office of administrative law. “They have up to 10 days, and they turned around pretty quick,” said state agriculture spokesman Oscar Hidalgo.

In a memorandum dated Thursday, the department listed the materials that must be certified fire ant-free before leaving Orange County, including soil, plants and turf, baled hay or straw, soil-moving equipment and other products that can spread fire ants.

Uninfested Orange County nurseries that want to ship plants must start or continue programs ensuring that they will remain free of fire ants.