Is fumigation the only sure way to kill off bed bugs?

I have a friend going through this ordeal. I’m sorry for your relative. She’s had 2 professionals come out, and it hasn’t worked. She been reduced to clean absolutely everything by hand and search for the bugs. As she cleans, she puts things in plastic tubs. Good luck.

A friend of mine had them and she had to wash all her laundry and she also bleached the walls and furniture. I haven’t heard that as a “cure” but she said it worked.

I read that high heat will kill bed bugs. Pest control people will come in with heaters and heat up the rooms really hot and that’s known to kill them. I’ll google and find you details.

https://www.invader.net/kill-bed-bugs-with-heat/#:~:text=Kill%20Bed%20Bugs%20With%20Heat%201%20Protecting%20Your,...%203%20Bed%20Bug%20Prevention%20and%20Detection.%20

Bean leaves snare bed bugs. Place on floor of infested area and burn the next day.

As @jca2 mentions, you can kill them with heat. You have to tent the dwelling and then they use heaters to raise the temp and hold it for a while (several days possibly?). Obviously this requires moving out temporarily.

I have been told the heat treatment is the only sure-fire way.

They are a hated pest precisely because they’re notoriously difficult to get rid of once they’re in place. They’re great at hiding and surviving.

I briefly thought I had bed bugs at one point. Fortunately an inspection showed I didn’t. My advice is to not mess around. Don’t try to skimp, nuke ‘em from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure. By which I mean do the professional heat treatment thing. My understanding is other techniques are at best half-measures and you’re just kicking the can down the road.