Countywide : Malathion Spraying Dates Announced

The Mediterranean fruit fly spray zone that takes in nearly all of Garden Grove, half of Westminster and parts of seven other cities will get its fourth application of malathion Thursday.

In Orange County’s other spray zone--an area covering eight square miles in Brea, La Habra and Fullerton--a scheduled round of spraying was cancelled Monday night because of fog and mist.

Each zone is scheduled for two more sprayings:

* April 16 and April 30 for the Brea area.

* April 19 and May 3 for the Garden Grove area.

A new supply of sterile Medflies is on its way to help fight the infestation, and state officials now say they expect to end the aerial spraying by May 9--a month ahead of schedule.

However, the accelerated schedule was announced last week before two Medflies were discovered in Diamond Bar and Riverside.

Agriculture officials have not scheduled any sprayings in response to those discoveries, the first in weeks, but they have set more traps in the areas where the two Medflies were found. It is not clear how the discoveries will affect the eradication effort, officials said.

Spraying Schedule State agriculture officials this week announced new aerial spraying dates for areas thought to be infested with the Mediterranean fruit fly. These are expected to be the last sprayings. Under an accelerated schedule aimed at ending the controversial eradication effort by May 9, the Southland spray areas will be hit every 14 days beginning in April. Here are the Orange County areas affected and the dates of spraying: 1. Brea: (An eight-square-mile area that includes parts of Brea, La Habra and Fullerton): Monday, April 16 and April 30 2. Garden Grove: (A 36 square-mile area that includes virtually all of Garden Grove, about half of Westminster and parts of Anaheim, Orange, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Cypress, Los Alamitos and Stanton): Thursday, April 19 and May 3