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Posted: 12:39 PM- Bedbugs have forced the Salt Lake City Fire Department to temporarily abandon one of its busiest stations.

The three-story Station House No. 2 at 270 W. 300 North has been vacant since mid-December and firefighters won't be allowed back in for at least two more weeks while the department tries to eradicate the pests, said spokesman Dennis McKone.

The problem cropped up in November when two firefighters reported being bitten, he said. The employees were moved out for a week so the station could be sprayed, but the problem was still there when they returned.

Four more sprayings have not killed the bugs, McKone said.

Now, the department is removing all the carpet from the living quarters on the second and third floors and replacing it with vinyl flooring, he said. All the beds and bedding have also been replaced.

Station No. 2 houses two companies - a ladder truck and a paramedic unit. There are eight employees in the station each shift.

McKone wanted to stress that even though No. 2 crews are working out of other stations, "our run times are still within four minutes" because other crews are also taking calls in No. 2's area.

It's presumed the bugs originated at a nearby homeless shelter, to which the firefighters and paramedics are often dispatched.

"Our understanding is they've had quite a problem with bed bugs this year," McKone said.

From now on, department employees will no longer enter the sleeping area at the shelter, he said. Instead, they'll ask that the subject be brought to a foyer area where the firefighters or paramedics can work on them.

As an added precaution, the employees will be leaving their "hurry up" gear - boots, heavy jackets and pants - in the apparatus floor, rather than taking them into the station's sleeping quarters. Also, the station has a washing machine and dryer and the employees will be encouraged to wash their clothes often, McKone said.

"There's definitely a nationwide increase," said Diane Keay, environmental health specialist for the Salt Lake Valley Health Department, who said she remembers when she might get a few calls a year about bedbugs, maybe one call every two years.

"Now I'm getting calls almost weekly," Keay said.

While bedbugs have been around for centuries, they were virtually eradicated in the United States after World War II. They resurfaced about five years ago.

Experts like Keay say people visiting the United States from other countries might be bringing the insects with them, causing particular problems for hotels and motels. Orkin reports most of the bedbug exterminations are in hotels, apartments and dormitories.

Keay also noted that in the past when people had an exterminator treat their home for cockroaches, the pesticide used was broad and would also kill bedbugs. Now, the pesticide used is specific to cockroaches, and the bedbugs are being spared, she said.

Bedbugs hide in mattresses, bedding, crevices and even behind loose wallpaper. They are flat and wingless critters that grow to about the size of a ladybug.

While you sleep, bedbugs can bite, withdrawing three times their body weight in blood. Bite marks usually show up as little red spots with lighter red around them.

Bedbugs do not carry disease - that's the good news, Keay said. "The bad news is they can go six months without eating. With lice, you can take a long weekend and let the lice die off."

The best thing a person can do if they think they have bedbugs is call an exterminator, she said. If one just noticed the bugs, a thorough vacuuming of the mattress, box spring, linens, floor, baseboards, electrical outlets and adjacent furniture might do the trick.

Keay cautioned against using a bedbug pesticide on bedding unless the label indicates it's safe to do so. That's if one can find such a pesticide - most are restricted to professionals, she said.

Keay helped the fire department and shelter with their eradication plans and suspects the department may have better luck.

"With the shelter, I don't know if they can avoid reinfestation," she said. "In the shelter you have people with all their worldly possession with them, who keep them near their beds. Their gear is not getting treated, shaken out and vacuumed."

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