Dirty bloodsuckers invade firehouse. Bedbugs shut Wilmington, Delaware fire station. Experts worry firefighters moved back in too soon.

Bedbugs.

Like a horde of tiny vampires, the nocturnal, blood-sucking parasites have infested Wilmington Fire Station No. 2 in Southbridge, forcing officials to close the building for a day to give exterminators a chance to do chemical battle with the critters.

The station reopened Wednesday afternoon, with fans whirring at every open door to dissipate the last of the pesticide foggers that were set off inside.

Nobody seems to know how the insects got into the fire station or how long they may have been there. But experts say the firefighters shouldn’t feel badly about it — bedbugs are all the rage right now.

“They are in the news a lot lately because they are making a comeback,” said Charles Bartlett, associate professor of entomology at the University of Delaware. “There is a lot of mythology about them, because they had been very well controlled for a long time.”

The development of pesticides and improvements in sanitation made bedbug infestations nearly nonexistent in the United States for the last 50 years or so. But several factors have given rise to a resurgence, including the increase in international travel, the general lack of awareness about the insects, and what some scientists are saying is a better breed of bedbug more resistant to pesticides.

Wilmington’s Station No. 2 firefighters noticed the bugs last week and sent a letter to supervisors, who put in a call to a pest control company. The exterminators diagnosed the infestation, and firefighters were moved to nearby Station No. 7 while the building was treated.

Standing in the reopened station Wednesday, Battalion Chief Carl Zipfel waited for a delivery of new furniture for the four-man crew that works in 24-hour shifts. The fire department spent $810 for the extermination, $1,295 for new mattresses and $2,900 for new couches and chairs.

“The couches, chairs, everything that was upholstered had to be thrown out,” he said.

Bartlett said he wouldn’t be so quick to rush back inside.

“If it were me, I would want to wait a few days after the treatment before putting new things in there,” he said. “Even with those steps, I would probably monitor for some time.”