Nation’s biting fire ant invasion expands north

The plague of invasive, aggressive fire ants in North Carolina has shifted further north and west, prompting the state to add three more counties to the official “fire ant quarantine” area.

Davidson, Orange and Vance counties are now part of a quarantine zone that restricts moving such things as plants and dirt to non-infested counties to the north and west, according to a Nov. 28 press release from the N.C. Department of Agriculture.

North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma continue to be part of the northern range of the nation’s growing fire ant infestation, making containment critical, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

The latest northward shift of the quarantine zone means 75 of North Carolina’s 100 counties are now considered home to a pest know for swarming and stinging, says the department.

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