A potential mosquito problem is looming in Altadena after the Eaton Fire left behind thousands of massive breeding sites for the pests—swimming pools.
The nearly 5,000 pools in the area that have gone unmaintained since the fire could be breeding grounds for staggering numbers of mosquitoes possibly carrying West Nile, Dengue, and other diseases.
With the weather warming up, the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito & Vector Control District says it's getting out ahead of the problem.
"One swimming pool can produce up to 3 million mosquitoes in one month," Vector Control's Anais Medina Diaz told KNX News' Karen Adams. "So this is a huge concern for us, not only because of mosquito population, but the increase in risk of disease transmission."
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The West Nile virus is their top concern for the area because it's endemic and appears each summer. "We see it in the bird population, and that gets transmitted to, or it gets transferred through the bite of an infected mosquito to a human," Diaz said.
They are also concerned about a potential explosion in the Aedes Mosquito population, the tiny black mosquitos with white stripes known to carry Dengue, Zika, and Yellow fever.
According to Diaz, the district is ready to help, but it is ultimately the homeowner's responsibility to prevent mosquito growth on their property.
"Of course, this is the last thing that homeowners are really looking at, so we're here as a partner until they've reached that point," Diaz said.
She urges homeowners with pools in the burn area to call them so they can put together a plan for them as the community moves forward through the recovery process. "All we need right now is for them to reach out to us, and we'll take care of the rest," she said.
Potential treatments include larvicides, which control mosquitoes in their aquatic stage before they become flying adults. They also plan to use mosquito fish. However, Diaz says the fish may not be able to survive because of the poor water quality due to ash.
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