Fumigators Eliminate Drywood Termite Threat at San Diego Youth Aquatic Center

INDIANAPOLIS  — Thousands of Boy Scouts and other youth from the San Diego area visit the San Diego Youth Aquatic Center, operated by the San Diego-Imperial Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The center is located on Fiesta Island in Mission Bay Park and allows local youth to take advantage of recreational instruction in activities such as swimming, sailing, canoeing and kayaking.           

Recently, an extensive infestation of drywood termites was found damaging this facility. The destructive insects had been making a meal of the aquatic center for years, and evidence of termite damage was discovered throughout the building. Previous spot treatments had proven unsuccessful, so pest management professionals from Antimite Termite and Pest Control, Lloyd Pest Control and Terminix donated their time to conduct a whole-structure fumigation using Vikane gas fumigant to eliminate the drywood termite infestation. Dow AgroSciences donated the cylinders of Vikane used for the fumigation.

Mother Nature Interferes. Once the San Diego-Imperial Council obtained permission from the City of San Diego to conduct the fumigation, the three companies worked together to develop a fumigation plan for the 300,000-cubic-foot structure.           

Aside from ensuring all safety measures were in place for tenting the structure, which included some steep areas of the roof, a challenge for the fumigators and the aquatic center was the storage of several tanks of expensive fish that were housed in the center. After a thorough discussion, the council deided that the fish would be housed in an aquarium in La Jolla, Calif. until the fumigation was complete. While center personnel were moving the fish, fumigators worked to prep the interior of the structure for fumigation.           

On the scheduled day of the fumigation, a visit from Mother Nature brought heavy rainstorms that forced the postponement of the fumigation for a couple weeks.           

“Inclement weather is one challenge you can’t overcome,” says Jim Finley, manager of Antimite Termite and Pest Control. “High winds or rain can hinder a fumigation and be a potential danger to fumigators, so weather is definitely something we cannot work around.”

Successful Outcome. Although the three companies are competitors, as members of the Pest Control Operators of California, they cooperated to conduct the successful fumigation.           

“Each company worked well together because it was for the betterment of the San Diego area,” says Finley, whose company has several former Eagle Scouts as employees. “When you’re helping to make your community a better place, it’s easy to put competitiveness aside.”           

The BSA San Diego council was pleased with the fumigation results as well.           

“The professionalism and collaboration of everyone involved through the Pest Control Operators of California was tremendous,” says David Hodges, director of support service for the San Diego-Imperial Council of the Boy Scouts of America. “Even with the cancellation of the first scheduled date due to weather, everyone rallied to complete the project a short time later.”