Thread: Milwakee gets GIGANTIC FLEA INFESTATION has to fumigate

Did anyone see this tonight? Milwakee is getting lots of illegals, wonder if it has something to do with that? They had to fumigate the houses, the CITY had to it was so bad, they were jumpin over to other houses.......

http://www.todaystmj4.com/_content/news ... y_3783.asp

There's a video on the site.

MILWAUKEE - A flea-infested house is making people miserable on Milwaukee's south side. Some want the city to tear the house down. But the problem is more complicated than that.

The first issue is that the owner of the flea house is missing. She has legal rights and the city just can't tear her house down. Also, if the city does flatten the flea house, they could unleash an even bigger problem in the neighborhood at 13th and Lapham: a colony of fleas could infect an even bigger area of the south side. So all the city can do is try to contain them until cold weather comes.

"We believe there's millions of them in that house," said Tracie Williams of the Department of Neighborhood Services. Several neighbors are covered in flea bites. That's because the fleas are migrating on whatever "blood host" they can find. "It can be mice, it can be rats if they're in the neighborhood, other animals that are in the neighborhood will carry the fleas and again humans who are in the neighborhood," Williams said.

It's a problem bigger than bug spray can handle. The fleas go through various stages of larvae, and can stay dormant for up to a year. Ten females can produce up to a quarter million eggs within 30 days. They hatch when they sense heat or movement. That's why the city is reluctant to try and tear the house down.

The Department of Neighborhood Services admits they are stumped on this one. They're trying to get help from experts from the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=479257

Flea infestation closes south side fire station
Exterminator called after bugs in dilapidated house hitch ride on firefighters
By BOB PURVIS
bpurvis@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 1, 2006

A south side Milwaukee Fire Department engine house was closed for much of Tuesday after firefighters handling a fire at a flea-infested home inadvertently carried some of the insects back to their station.

Answering a call, firefighters from Engine 12, 1400 S. 9th St., answered a call about 12:30 a.m. in the 1500 block of S. 12th St. to fight a small fire at a home in the process of being condemned, department spokesman Lt. Brian O'Connor said.

Firefighters entered the home to make sure fire hadn't spread inside, O'Connor said.

Hours later, they realized the home was infested with fleas, which had latched onto the firefighters and ridden back to the firehouse, O'Connor said.

"They said they were getting bites all over the place," O'Connor said.

The firefighters immediately treated the firehouse with a bleach solution and placed a call to the city Health Department, Battalion 1 Chief Steven Gleisner said.

After spraying the place down with some over-the-counter pesticides, they called an exterminator, Gleisner said.

The engine house had to be closed down for about five hours, with all of the equipment and uniforms still inside as an exterminator treated the building to avoid spreading the fleas.

Firefighters kept a few cans of Raid around for good measure when the building reopened, Gleisner said.