To protect residents from illnesses spread by mosquitoes, the Health and Environment Department runs an active mosquito control program. Every week, staff place traps at sites across Fredville. The insects caught at each trap are packaged together as one sample, known as a "pool," and shipped to the county health department's vector control laboratory and to the state health department's arbovirus laboratory. Technicians there identify the species and check each pool for signs of West Nile virus (WNV).
How the Program Works
If a pool comes back positive for West Nile virus, department staff treat the neighborhood around the trap where that sample was collected. Treatment happens after dark, using a sprayer mounted on a truck.
For several weeks afterward, crews keep trapping in the treated area to confirm that infected mosquitoes are gone. Questions? The department can be reached at (555) 010-1261.
The city also takes these steps to keep mosquito numbers down and to help residents understand the risk:
- Checks the surrounding area wherever a positive sample turns up.
- Looks for standing water in low-lying spots and treats likely breeding sites with larvicide.
- Has applied larvicide at more than 20 locations around Fredville.
- Mails postcards and leaves door hangers for households that have swimming pools.
- Inspects pools after a complaint and at homes known to be vacant.
- Shares prevention information with the residents most at risk.
- Gives out mosquito dunks, a doughnut-shaped larvicide made from bacteria that kills larvae in standing water. Pick them up at the department's offices, 100 Civic Center Drive, 2nd Floor, Fredville, TX 75999. Each household may take up to two, and a fact sheet on using the dunks is available at the office.
Program Goals
The City of Fredville's mosquito program aims to keep nuisance mosquitoes in check, lower the chance that mosquito-borne diseases spread, and give residents a comfortable, healthy place to live.
To get there, the city follows an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach. IPM blends several suitable control methods into one coordinated plan that brings pest numbers down to a tolerable level.
Relying on a mix of methods, rather than any single one, usually does the least harm to the other plants and animals living near a treated site.
Upcoming treatments are posted on the mosquito spraying schedule.
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