If problem gets too big, try FEMA aid, officer says

Vienna-based C-130s have sprayed hurricane-hit areas to control mosquitoes.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Help may be available from the federal government if the mosquito control problem is beyond the resources of local government.
Federal Emergency Management Agency money may be made available to local jurisdictions for mosquito control under certain circumstances, said Russ Edmonston, a FEMA public information officer.
First, he said, state and local mosquito control costs must exceed their normal budgets. Second, he said, the state must request FEMA aid and certify that a disaster-related mosquito health hazard exists.
Conditions for spraying
For aerial mosquito spraying to be conducted by specially-equipped C-130 transport planes, four conditions would have to be met, according to Master Sgt. Bryan Ripple, superintendent of public affairs for the 910th Airlift Wing at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna. Those are:
UThere must be a federal disaster declaration as had been granted for flood-stricken Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties.
UThe problem must be beyond local pest control capabilities.
UState and FEMA officials would have to call for the C-130s.
UThe Pentagon would have to approve such spraying.
The 910th has conducted such spraying in recent years in hurricane-stricken sections of the East Coast, but never before in Ohio, Ripple said. Four C-130s equipped for the job are based in Vienna, he added.
Paying for it
Depending on circumstances, the estimated $5,000 per plane per hour cost of such spraying can be paid for by the Department of Defense or FEMA, an Air Force official said.
Neil Altman, Youngstown health commissioner, and Walter Duzzny, Mahoning County emergency management director, said they favor exhausting all mosquito control methods on the ground before aerial spraying is considered. "I think you can be more accurate with a truck sprayer than you can with a saturation from an airplane," Altman said.