Friday 13th – Beware the bugs, really!

Don’t panic bed bugs have nothing to do with Friday the 13th but it got me to thinking. So do work around furniture, clothing or anywhere where people meet. I’d probably say most of us fall into that category. But it got me to thinking about some things, the other day a few Fire Fighters came in and we got into discussing Bed Bugs. They told me that a fire station in Phoenix got them and that it freaked them out, so I thought I would put together a list of potential places where Bed Bugs might latch onto a unsuspecting host. Remember Bed Bugs are not like lice and that normally they don’t travel on people but consider that they are experts on hitchhiking.

1. Garbage or refuse haulers, do you pick up garbage and transport it to another dump site?
2. Self employed haulers.
3. Not for profit agencies that pick up clothes, or those box collection sites.
4. Moving van companies and employees.
5. Fire Fighters, Police, Medical Personnel, EMT’s & Paramedic’s or people that come into contact with people each day.
6. Clothing store employees.

So take care to do some random checking as you arrive back home or to your station. If you spot something crawling immediately go outside and get that thing off of you. Consider changing clothes in the garage and washing all clothes on hot and dry on hot for an hour – the book says 30-40 minutes but just a precaution, it takes 113° to kill adults and eggs. Don’t panic just use your common sense and you will be fine.