Rat infestation cleanup begins at DuPage County property after months of complaints
Rat problem growing in Bensenville as neighbors demand help
There is a growing rat problem in Bensenville and now the community is demanding help before it's too late.
DUPAGE COUNTY - After months of complaints and weeks of waiting, neighbors in a DuPage County neighborhood say cleanup has finally begun at the home they believe is fueling a massive rat infestation.
The backstory:
Residents told FOX Chicago they noticed a SERVPRO truck parked outside the property Tuesday morning and watched crews begin clearing out the home.
When FOX Chicago first reported on the infestation in May, neighbors said rats had been damaging homes, chewing through siding, invading garages, threatening pets and making it impossible to enjoy their backyards.
County officials previously said extermination efforts could not fully move forward until the inside of the home was cleaned.
Now that cleanup has started, residents say they’re concerned the rodents will scatter into neighboring yards if extermination measures are not in place.
"The dumpster when I went to work was completely empty. When I came home, garbage was piled above the dumpster. They started dragging stuff out of the house. They sent people in there with hazmat suits. It doesn’t appear any abatement or traps had been placed outside. They’re just going to scatter. The rest of the houses are going to be affected by this," neighbor Tyler Shawaluk said.
Neighbors say their frustrations only grew after surveillance cameras appeared to capture a cleanup worker urinating in a resident’s driveway during the cleanup. They shared time-stamped images they say show the incident.
"The gentleman walked over and you could see him unbutton his pants and started peeing on my gate. There’s no way this is happening. It’s highly unprofessional. It also makes me wonder, is the house that gross that you can’t use the toilet?" Shawaluk said.
What's next:
Residents say they are relieved to finally see movement at the property but believe the cleanup is happening too late and without enough precautions to prevent the infestation from spreading.
FOX Chicago reached out to SERVPRO about the alleged urinating incident. The company said it does not have any jobs scheduled at that address and did not explain why one of its trucks was parked outside the home during the cleanup.
The Source: The information in this article was reported by FOX Chicago's Leslie Moreno.