Job that never ends in Fla.: Removing dumped tires that make good homes for mosquitoes

Though snow may be falling in most of the U.S., it's not too soon to prepare for summer's greatest enemy: the mosquito. A rural community in Florida just finished clearing out illegally dumped tires from abandoned property in the never-ending quest to rid the area of the pests. (University of Florida photo)

Rick Neale of Florida Today reminds us that discarded tires double as incubators for marauding mosquitoes. Similar piles of car, truck and motorcycle tires pose a growing health menace at rural settings across the Space Coast, officials say. "These tires breed bad mosquitoes," Brevard County Mosquito Control inspector Jeff Parker said. "If it rains, they catch water. And if you look, every one of these tires has water in them. ... Within a week's time, they can lay eggs and breed thousands of mosquitoes. Thousands," Parker said.

This year, the mosquito team has seen an increase in the number of illegally dumped tires. "Typically, we run anywhere from 120,000 pounds to 200,000-250,000 pounds on an annual basis. We've just seen an incredible increase this year," said Craig Simmons, mosquito control director. Simmons attributes the increase to the cost of disposing of tires in a tight economy. The county charges $3 a tire.

Mosquito-control administrators typically budget $50,000 to $60,000 a year to remove tires across the county. This year's tab likely will hit $80,000 to $100,000. During warm, sunny days,  mosquito control workers use a hooked metal pole to pick up tires because snakes often curl up inside them, Neale reports.