Rico, Colorado City Hall Building has Bats in the Belfry

9/7/2017 (Permalink)

Bats roost in the attic of the City Hall Building in Rico, CO.

SERVPRO of Archuleta, La Plata, Montezuma and San Juan counties was recently contacted by officials from the town of Rico, CO inquiring about pest mitigation.  Bats have been roosting in the attic space of the City Hall building for years and they were becoming a nuisance due to noise and the bat guano odor.

Zac Fosco, our production manager, went onsite to investigate this batty situation. Zac has previous bat eradication experience from a job we performed at a historic church in Vallecito, CO several years ago.  While bats scare a lot of people there is very little risk of actually getting bitten or attacked by the bats.  The most pertinent risk is exposure to Histoplasmosis, a leading cause of lung infections around the world.  Histoplasmosis is a disease that results from inhalation of spores of the fungus Histoplasma Capsulatum. The fungus is found naturally in the environment, and breathing in the microscopic, airborne spores from the fungus can cause lung infections.  Based on this knowledge, Zac decided to wear full Personal Protective Equipment including a MultiGuard coverall suit and a Full Face Powered Air Purifying Respirator to investigate the attic space.

When Zac entered the dark attic space and pointed his flashlight toward the ceiling, he was met with hundreds of pairs of shining eyes reflecting back at him! Undaunted by the peering eyes and occasional fly by, Zac completed a full survey and assessment of the attic space and cleanup project.

SERVPRO of Archuleta, La Plata, Montezuma and San Juan counties was recently awarded the project and will begin mitigation next week. 

The bats are federally protected so there is no option to use any type of poison.  Bat exclusion techniques, such as sealing all openings, installing spring loaded one-way doors that allow the bats to exit but not return, ozone deployment and other methods will be utilized to rid the bats from the belfry before cleanup begins.

We will post additional blogs on this batty project as it progresses.

SERVPRO of Archuleta, La Plata, Montezuma and San Juan counties can help with any pest eradication and cleanup issue you may have.  Please call us 24/7 at 970-259-6184.