This mosquito-fighting drone takes flight in South Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — From vast parks to wetlands to conservation areas, Broward County is now using a drone to spray for mosquitoes in hard-to-reach places.

The drone hits the air with a payload of about 15 pounds of spray, enough to cover 3 acres at a time. “It’s a huge difference,” says Cody Cash, an employee for Daytona Beach-based Leading Edge Aerial Technologies, which rents Broward the drone.

Until now, crews could spend days covering a single territory that’s inaccessible by truck, wading in mud, armed with a machete to get past bushy trees.