PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – Arson is suspected in the torching of three service vehicles at Hannan Pest Management. Port St. Lucie Police and the St. Lucie County Fire District are investigating the fire, which occurred at 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 31.
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Owner Jamie Hannan told PCT magazine that the St. Lucie County Fire District have confirmed that arson is the cause. Hannan added that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are now involved in the investigation.
Of the five service vehicles parked overnight at Hannan Pest Management, the three that were ablaze were used for termite pretreatments. Jamie Hannan said he believes one of his competitors in the highly competitive termite pretreatment market was behind it.
“As soon as I received the call, in my mind I was already at the scene and I knew what was burned,” Hannan said. “I’ve been threatened in the past but I never thought it would come to this…you never think that someone could do something like this.”
POSSIBLE SABATOGE OF LAWN SERVICES. When news spread that Hannan Pest Management lost three of its service vehicles to fire, many of the company’s customers called to offer sympathy. The tone of these calls began to change throughout this past week as many of Hannan’s lawn customers began calling with complaints that their lawns were dying out.
”On Wednesday we began receiving calls and it turns out that 15 to 20 of the lawns that we serviced recently were severely burned,” Hannan said. In a Friday report by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Hannan said it appeared a herbicide may have been put in the tanks. Police believe the crimes could be linked.
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According to the Sun Sentinel, Peter Chunn of Hanna Pest Management, told police he "believes someone intentionally contaminated the tanks on the company truck with a very strong vegetation killer, with the intent to sabotage his business for some unknown reason," an officer wrote in a report.
"If a herbicide is dropped in the tank, and we spray a lawn, it can take up to four weeks ... to see results," Hannan said, noting the business is getting "pounded with calls" about dead lawns.
Hannan believes the drop-tanks on his lawn care trucks may have been tampered with and right now the company is going through soil-testing stages to determine what type of product may have been dumped into the drop tank. He expects to have replacements for the three burned trucks in a few days.
"We should be back in full service on Monday morning," he said. "We'll be up and running and we won't miss a beat."
Hannan started his company in April 2001 and it has grown steadily. He now has 15 vehicles on the road, with plans for another 15 vehicles later this year.
If anyone has any information, they are encouraged to contact the Port St. Lucie Police Department at (772) 871-5050.
The author is managing editor of Pest Control Technology magazine (PCT). PCT and Lawn & Landscape are owned by GIE Media. Lauren Spiers and Jonathan Katz of Lawn & Landscape contributed to this report.
