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NEW ORLEANS — A group of New York City PCOs, many of whom provided pest control post 9-11, traveled to New Orleans and volunteered their pest services in the flood-ravaged city. This relief effort was spearheaded by Metro Pest Control, Glendale, N.Y., and distributor Residex. “We knew that (Louisiana PCOs) were all out of commission and that they needed our services to help with all the mess that is left down there,” Metro Pest Control Vice President Greg Zarek told PCT. Residex helped coordinate the efforts by putting Metro’s Gregory Schall and Jose Alomar in touch with Arnold Katz , Graduate Pest Control, East Northport, N.Y., and Walden Flores, Walden's Pest Control, Bethpage, N.Y. Schall worked with the Louisiana Pest Management Association and LIPCA Insurance Group to find housing and coordinate relief efforts in New Orleans. With so many displaced New Orleans residents in Baton Rouge, the housing market was tight, so Allen Fugler, vice president of marketing, LIPCA, graciously volunteered to put the foursome up in his house for the duration of their stay (five days). “At just about the same time, I received a call from Claudia Riegel (New Orleans Mosquito Control & Termite Board) asking if I knew of any volunteers, because so many local PCOs were out of commission,” Fugler said. “It was really sort of a divine providence.” David Fields, assistant director of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry Structural Pest Control Commission, waived license fees waived and allowed for temporary reciprocity for the New York City PCOs. Prior to the work, the PCOs collected and stored donated products. Manufacturers and distributors that donated products included: Bell Laboratories, ESSCO Distributors, Bayer Environmental Science, FMC Corporation, Whitmire Micro-Gen, and Residex. Oldham Chemicals in Baton Rouge, La., stored these products free of charge. Riegel led the caravan of PCOs past military checkpoints and into areas of New Orleans in desperate need of rodent control services. These included city-owned properties such schools, nursing homes and churches, city hall, the Superdome, the New Orleans Convention Center and the lakefront of Lake Ponchatrain. The foursome also helped the New Orleans Mosquito Control & Termite Board check termite bait stations. The NOMCTB is a cooperative partner in Operation Full Stop — a program for managing Formosan subterranean termites in NewOrleans’ famed French Quarter and elsewhere. It was an eye-opening experience for Metro Pest Control’s Schall, who witnessed the post 9-11 destruction. “I worked in Manhattan following 9-11, but the devastation here is worse – much worse,” Schall said. “It’s just gray. Each street seemed to have a different smell. The stench was just overpowering.” A typical day for the New York PCOs was an eight-hour shift controlling rats throughout the city. Schall said the rodent problems were bad and were worsening when they arrived. “We used baits and powders and bait stations in some areas,” Schall said. “We’d go to property with a rodent problem in the beginning stages and we’d count 19 (burrows) and then come back the next day and count 30 (burrows)."