Air Force Reserve's C-130s To Battle Homestead 'Skeeters

HOMESTEAD (CBS4) – Residents of Homestead, Florida City and the Redland areas who have been battling an invasion of nasty blood sucking mosquitoes over the last few weeks take heart, help is on the way in 'big' way.

Specially equipped C-130H cargo planes from the Air Force Reserve's 910th Airlift Wing in Youngstown, Ohio will be doing low-level passes over the southern sections of the county spraying pesticide from July 26th – July 28th. The giant prop powered planes will be flying passes about 150 feet off the ground dispersing Dibrom, a pesticide registered for use in Florida.

Miami-Dade Mosquito Control reports they've been getting hundreds and hundreds of calls about mosquito populations infesting neighborhoods.

Chalmers Vasquez, Miami-Dade's Mosquito Control Operations Manager, said our long drought dried up lots of areas in the Everglades and gave mosquitoes plenty of places to lay their eggs. A combination of rain, which allowed the eggs to hatch, and wind have causing a particularly bad season this year.

"We've been sending out trucks just about every morning of everyday and sometimes during the weekend," Vasquez said about the efforts to battle the bugs.

Now its time to bring in aerial support.

The spraying will be from about two hours before sunset to about half an hour after when the mosquito populations are most active.

The amount of insecticide in the air should not affect people or animals but beekeepers are asked to keep their bees covered.

Anyone with questions about the spraying should contact Miami-Dade County Mosquito Control Division at (305) 592-1186 or dial 311.