Who you gonna call?

  • Published
  • By Laura McGowan
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Many parents have fond memories of reading bedtime stories to their children, and at the end of their nighttime rituals they would tuck them in and say, "Sleep tight - don't let the bedbugs bite!"

Well, according to a 2015 Terminix report detailing the top 15 cities with bedbug problems, people living in several Ohio cities on the list might want to come up with another saying, because bedbugs are a reality for Cleveland #15, Dayton #14, Columbus #8, Cincinnati #2 and Toledo #12.

Anyone on base with a pest problem should call the 88th Air Base Wing entomology office to deal with a pesky problem.

The base entomology office is proactive in keeping pests at bay before they become a problem. Pests can be more than just bedbugs, roaches or ants. Their office also assists in keeping the fields along the flight line from growing plants and vegetation that attract field mice to nest.

"Field mice attract red tail hawks and these animals can cause hazards to people and equipment on the flight line if they fly into airplane engines," said William Williams, 88th Air Base Wing pest control management supervisor.

His office provides weekly and quarterly inspections, and when necessary, they also remove squirrels, mice and groundhogs that can affect the structural integrity of buildings and structures on base by chewing through wires and nesting within the building.

"Keeping the fields around the flight line clear of certain plants helps keep these animals away because they don't have the food source that attracts them," Williams said.

Williams explained that Ohio has a history of problems with bedbugs because of the amount of travelers, PCS moves, TDYs and international travelers that frequent here. "

People will bring them here from other areas, not knowing that they have done so," he said.

Williams said that many people bring them back from the desert or other places they have been. So much so, that he's now including this topic in their pre-deployment briefings. According to Williams, travelers going from base to base, staying in on-base or off-base lodging should not bring their bags into a room without first checking it out.

"The traveler should check the mattress, box springs, mattress covers and headboard crevices," he said. "Only then should they bring their luggage into the room."

These are also the areas that his office trains the base lodging housekeepers to check. Should a traveler notice these creepy invaders, Williams recommends they let the front desk know that they either need another room, or go to a hotel.

When there's a problem with bedbug infestations in the lodging rooms, the pest control office uses professional heaters to heat the rooms for six to seven hours at 120-145 degrees.

It is also not unheard of for there to be intermittent problems in the work area if a person who has a bedbug or other pest problem at home for them to bring those pests with them to work on their clothes, in purses or backpacks, etc. The pest control office will treat the office areas with environmentally safe chemicals to eradicate the problem.

"If the problem is persistent, that usually means the problem in that person's home is not being handled properly, causing their work area, coworker's area and building to have repetitive problems," Williams said. "An infestation problem in an office can become a human resources problem to identify the individual at the root of the matter, so the Air Force doesn't have to continue to expose that office to continual exposure to pesticides," Williams explained.

In addition to the airfield, buildings and lodging, their office also inspects the facilities that serve food, to ensure that there are no pest problems that can cause health issues.

During the summer months, the pest control office anticipates that during warmer weather, mosquitos, which are vectors for many diseases, must be kept at bay. In order to attack that issue head-on, they use light traps and CO2 traps.

So, if someone on base notices something strange in an office chair cushion or lodging box springs, the 88th Air Base Wing Entomology office is here to help. For more information, call 937-257-3593.