County to Be Quarantined Over Fire Ants

State officials said Tuesday that they will quarantine Orange County in hopes of curbing the spread of red fire ants, because the infestation has proved worse than first thought.

It will be the first time that California has quarantined a county because of fire ants, state officials said.

The exact restrictions will be decided within nine days, when the quarantine takes effect. It is expected to last five years or more.

As proposed, it would forbid movement of uninspected soil and nursery plants across the county line and would primarily affect nurseries, which produce the county’s biggest export crop. Inspections probably will be required at 600 businesses in all, including supermarkets, that sell plants.

The quarantine would also require operators of construction equipment to ensure that they do not carry soil containing fire ants out of the county.

For residents, the impact could be minimal, state officials said. Although people will be cautioned not to take outdoor potted plants out of Orange County, the quarantine probably will be more low-key than rules to curb the spread of the Mediterranean fruit fly, which restricted the movement of home-grown fruits and vegetables.

“The common person will not even know this exists, most likely,” said state agriculture spokesman Oscar Hidalgo. “They’re less likely to move a potted plant than an apple from their tree, or an orange.”

The quarantine is the most dramatic illustration yet that the county is at the center of California’s blossoming fire ant problem, although some ants have been found in parts of Riverside and Los Angeles counties, most recently in Cerritos near the Orange County line. The state also may impose quarantines in those areas, although no decisions have been made, officials said.

Fire ants eat plants and can damage electrical equipment, and their painful bites can be fatal for the small portion of the population who are allergic to their stings.

Among proposed quarantine restrictions, as described Tuesday by state and county officials:

* Nurseries would be prohibited from moving plants within or outside of the county unless they are treated and certified by inspectors.

* Baled hay and straw left on the ground could not be moved within or outside Orange County without approval from state or county inspectors.

* Moving soil from one site to another would also be restricted, and contractors would be required to clean loose soil from earthmoving equipment before moving it from one site to another.

State officials say that the quarantine simply formalizes restrictions that have been in effect for weeks.

About 80 of an estimated 300 nurseries in the county have already been inspected and several where fire ants were found have been placed under a “hold order” that prohibits them from moving plant material, soil, mulch or other items from their premises unless it has been sprayed and inspected.

And in the construction industry, no immediate impact was seen. “We’re not in the business of moving dirt out of Orange County,” said local Building Industry Assn. chief executive officer Christine Diemer. “So far, I’m unaware of any direct impact on our housing industry, but you never know.”