West Nile arrived early in Rowland Heights in 2026
The Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District (GLACVCD) traps and tests mosquitoes throughout its service area, and Rowland Heights is part of it. In 2026 the district collected its first West Nile–positive sample from the community on June 23 — about two weeks ahead of neighboring Hacienda Heights (July 8). By the district's October 19 update, Rowland Heights had seven positive samples out of 439 across the whole district.
That June date is the earliest first detection for Rowland Heights in the seasons we reviewed. The district's yearly tables show first detections here on July 10, 2020 (two samples that year), July 27, 2022 (seven) and July 25, 2023 (four), and no Rowland Heights samples listed in 2024 or 2025. Activity clearly swings from one year to the next, and 2026 has already matched the 2022 season total.
PesPro does not provide mosquito control; surveillance and treatment belong to GLACVCD. The district's advice for households is simple: tip out standing water every week — plant saucers, buckets, clogged gutters, toys — and report neglected green pools to GLACVCD at 562-944-9656 or GLAmosquito.org. If our technicians notice standing water while treating for ants or cockroaches, we'll point it out.
Sources: [1][7][5][4][3][2][6]
Six vermin closures along the restaurant corridor
Los Angeles County Environmental Health can close a restaurant or market for a vermin infestation, and closures are published in county reports. County records and news reports based on county data confirm six such closures of Rowland Heights food businesses since early 2025: one on the 1300 block of S. Fullerton Road in March 2025; three on Colima Road in April and May 2025 — two in the same shopping center on the 18400 block and one on the 18100 block; and two in September 2026, on the 18400 block of E. Colima Road and on Labin Court.
In these county reports, vermin covers rodents and insects such as cockroaches and flies, and the reports do not name the pest that was found. Of the closures with a published reopening date, most reopened within about a week. Not every closure involves pests: the same September 2026 report lists a third Rowland Heights market closed because it lacked a way to clean and sanitize, and one Colima Road closure in May 2025 was for serious or repeated violations.
For restaurant and market owners, the useful part is the pattern. Four of the six vermin closures were on Colima Road, where many kitchens share walls inside plaza buildings, so a problem in one unit is likely to put pressure on the units next to it. PesPro provides scheduled commercial service for restaurants and markets; our cockroach and rodent pages explain how we work in plaza kitchens.
Sources: [8][9][10]
Pest help for Chinese-speaking households
Chinese is the most common home language in Rowland Heights. About 17,800 residents age 5 and older speak it at home — roughly 40%, more than the 12,100 who speak only English — and about 65% of those Chinese speakers report speaking English less than "very well." More than half of all residents (56%) were born outside the United States.
That matters for pest control, because treatments such as bed bug or cockroach work only succeed when everyone in the home understands the preparation and the follow-up. The pespro.com/zh edition of this website presents our services in Simplified Chinese, so you or an older relative can read up in Chinese before and after a visit. To be clear: our technicians speak English and Spanish, not Chinese. Many families find it easiest to have a bilingual relative join the phone call or the inspection, and we are glad to slow down, write steps down and answer questions.
Spanish is the second most common home language here, spoken by about 8,600 residents, and our whole team can handle inspections, estimates and preparation instructions in Spanish.
Sources: [11]
Homes built in the 1960s and '70s, and what that means now
Rowland Heights grew quickly and then largely stopped building. Census estimates put the median year built at 1976; about 8,400 of the community's roughly 15,700 homes — 53% — date from 1960 to 1979, about 62% predate 1980, and fewer than 1% were built after 2010. Almost every house here has been through decades of settling, re-roofing and remodeling.
In homes of that age, the openings we look for first are AC, cable and dryer lines cut through stucco and never sealed, corroded screens on crawl-space and attic openings, garage doors that no longer meet the slab, and kitchen plumbing replaced without closing the wall hole behind it. Those are the routes roof rats, mice, German cockroaches and ants most likely use to get inside.
Not everyone lives in a detached house. The Census counts about 1,060 homes in buildings of 50 or more units, about 500 attached townhomes and 638 mobile homes, and 32% of households rent. In shared-wall housing, pests can move between units, so renters should tell the manager early and ask for neighboring units to be checked as well.
Sources: [11]
Living near Schabarum Regional Park
Peter F. Schabarum Regional County Park covers 575 acres in Rowland Heights, and only about 75 acres are developed. LA County keeps the rest in a natural state, including a federally protected stream and trails that connect to the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail.
Open land on that scale is great for hiking, and it is also likely to be a steady source of rodents, ground-nesting wasps and foraging animals for the yards around it, especially as summer dries the hills. Its stream and irrigated edges may also hold water mosquitoes can use, which is one more reason the weekly standing-water check matters for homes near the park.
If you find a beehive, who removes it depends on where it is. LA County Public Works says hives on county property are handled by the Agricultural Commissioner/Weights & Measures office (626-575-5471), while a hive at a private home generally calls for a private pest control company. PesPro's wasp and bee control covers private homes and businesses. We do not handle wildlife such as opossums, raccoons or coyotes.
Sources: [12][14]
