EEE Spray Times: Central Falls/Pawtucket, Then Warwick/West Warwick/Coventry

QUONSET POINT — EEE Spray times to control the virus-bearing mosquitoes statewide will start over the Central Falls/Pawtucket zone, then focus on the West Warwick/Warwick/Coventry zone, which began at about 7 p.m. Sunday night.

The spraying of those two areas is expected to take about three and a half hours, said Michael l Healey, chief public affairs officer for DEM, minutes after watching the insecticide spraying plane take off from Quonset Point Air Base at about 6:45 p.m. Sunday.

The first zone encompasses Central Falls, Pawtucket, about half of Providence, North Providence, Lincoln and Cumberland, Healey said.

The second zone encompasses West Warwick, a western section of Warwick and eastern Coventry.

When the pilot is finished with the second zone, Healey said, he will need to land, refuel and reload the plane, but they expect him to be able to cover a third zone in the state’s mosquito control plan: Burrillville/North Smithfield/Woonsocket and Cumberland.

The fourth zone, centering on Westerly’s Champman Swamp, will have to wait until Tuesday night, during which the insecticide-spraying plane will concentrate solely on that area between about 7 p.m. and midnight.

The times are weather and flight-dependent, Healey said. The spraying will not continue if wind speed increases or if the temperature falls below 58 degrees.

“Below that temperature, adult mosquitoes are not flying around,” Healey said.

Healey noted the increased risk from mosquitoes testing positive for EEE in Westerly, the human case of EEE reported in West Warwick and the EEE reported in horses in the northern part of the state necessitated the spraying plan.