A Bed Bug Infestation Causes A Fire Department To Close

We all know that a bed bug infestation should be considered a serious matter, and they need to be eradicated wherever they are found. However, what happens when bed bugs infest locations that are essential for addressing people’s emergencies? For example, if a bed bug infestation is discovered in a police station or a fire department, should these locations close until the bed bug presence is eliminated? Would firefighters or police officers still respond to public emergencies if their stations were closed for fumigations? Residents of Hobart, Indiana now know what happens when their local fire department becomes infested with bed bugs. Luckily, there were other fire departments within the city that were still functional.

Hobart Fire Station number three has recently closed in response to a bed bug presence within the building. The fire department needed to close in order to prevent bed bugs from reaching people’s homes. Luckily, the fire department always keeps a stash of sanitized fire-fighting equipment on hand in case of situations like this. According to Fire Chief Randy Smith, four firefighters had sustained bed bug bites from within the building. Once the bed bug presence became known, the Fire Chief promptly notified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In accordance with protocol, all other fire departments in the city were inspected for bed bugs. Luckily, only fire department number three had been found to contain bed bugs. Smith claimed that closing the fire station was necessary in order to prevent bed bugs from spreading to new locations. Smith believes that the fire department may have become infested with bed bugs as a result of firefighters being dispatched to homes where bed bugs were located. This scenario seems likely as last fall firefighters were dispatched to a home that was later found to be infested with bed bugs and several insects.

Do you think that bed bugs could go unnoticed in one location for several months?