Byde is checking on neglected pools behind foreclosed homes and he's finding breeding grounds for the West Nile virus.
"A pool like this can literally create thousands and thousands of mosquitoes for this neighborhood and create a nuisance," said Byde, the assistant manager of the Fresno Mosquito and Vector Control District. "Not only a nuisance, but a true health hazard."
Mosquito control officers can control the larvae with fish and a spray. But the foreclosure crisis made it hard to treat stagnant water in pools as people -- and banks -- left them abandoned.
In 2007, the Mosquito Control District found 440 neglected pools in Fresno County. This year, officers have already found more than 1300. But at vacant homes, it often took two weeks or more to contact homeowners and get in backyards to treat the pools.
"It was a real frustration for us to really have a strong suspicion that pools and spas and backyard stuff was just pumping off mosquitoes and just not able to get in," said Tim Phillips, the Fresno Mosquito and Vector Control District manager.
So, they got a warrant for every house in the parts of Fresno County they cover. The Mosquito Control District has already been to this house. You can tell because they put a notice on the fence to say they've put mosquito eating fish inside the pool in the back.
When they checked the pool, they found about 50 larvae in less than a pint of water.
"This is typical of a pool that hasn't been maintained for quite a while," said Byde.
Mosquito control officers knock first and they're not inspecting random backyards. Aerial photographs give them a good idea where the neglected pools are, so they can focus on their true targets -- the little larvae carrying a big health hazard.
