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Trucks are cool because they can be used for all kinds of highly specialized purposes. That usually requires highly specialized equipment as well, like snow plows and dump beds. But one vital task only calls for a decent amount of bed space and a night owl driver.
In municipalities around the country, trucks patrol the streets with giant foggers to keep mosquito populations in check. It’s an especially important job in coastal areas where the blood-sucking insects thrive, and in some cases, specialized trucks have been doing this work for decades. Miami-Dade County has operated spraying trucks since 1935, while the Bristol County Mosquito Control Project in Massachusetts has been monitoring—and when necessary, eliminating—the insects since 1959.
The trucks used for this job are ordinary pickups with large tanks of pesticides and automated sprayers in their beds. They’re driven slowly through affected areas to deliver the pesticide, usually at night when the majority of mosquito species are most active. Escambia County, Florida, usually runs its fogging trucks between dusk and 10 p.m., according to a page on the county website. The streets of New Bedford, Massachusetts, get sprayed between 2 a.m. and 10 a.m., reports The New Bedford Light.
Miami-Dade County via YouTube
If you happen to see one of these trucks, the clouds of insecticide wafting out of the bed will be hard to miss. Local authorities told The New Bedford Light that the spray is nontoxic to humans and other mammals, but that drivers try to avoid getting too close to people nonetheless. Escambia County also cancels spraying runs if winds are less than 2 mph or exceed 10 mph, or if temperatures drop below 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
As for how municipalities figure out when to deploy spray trucks, that decision is based on resident call-ins (Miami-Dade County encourages residents to call 311 to request spraying) and data from mosquito traps. Those are important both for tracking the number of mosquitoes and whether they’re carrying diseases, the latter determined by testing of individual bugs caught in the traps. Massachusetts and Florida also have opt-outs if, for example, you’re keeping bees on your property and don’t want them to become collateral damage.
It may not be pushing these trucks to the limits of their capabilities, but it is real work. And that’s what trucks are built for.
Stephen has always been passionate about cars, and managed to turn that passion into a career as a freelance automotive journalist. When he’s not handling weekend coverage for The Drive, you can find him looking for a new book to read.
