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KTLA, TV Channel 5 in Southern California, reports
A woman was critically injured after being stung "hundreds of times" by a swarm of bees in Lake Forest [South Orange County] Monday morning [July 16], and three others--including two firefighters--were also injured, officials said.
[...] "Units arrived on scene and they found her basically completely covered with bees from head to toe", Fire Authority Capt. Tony Bommarito told KTLA.
The swarm was so severe that firefighters didn't have time to put the special safety gear on that they would normally wear while responding to such incidents, according to Bommarito.
"They got out, they started felling the bees, they saw the patient down this cul-de-sac completely covered--her face was completely covered with bees", he said.
They grabbed [a carbon dioxide] extinguisher in an effort to remove the bulk of the bees off of the victim, then "basically dragged" her to a safe area about 200 yards away, according to the fire captain.
"She was basically non-responsive" to firefighter commands, although she could still move, Bommarito said.
The woman, described as being about 50 years old, was stung "hundreds of times", according to a tweet from the Fire Authority. She was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
The firefighters were stung "multiple times" and taken to a hospital in stable condition.
I have seen other stories about humans in SoCal being swarmed by Africanized "killer" bees. (I am assuming that that is what these were.) It makes me wonder how far north these bugs will range before winters get too cold for them--and how much climate change will exacerbate the situation.
Anybody north of L.A.'s latitude had similar reports where you are?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @02:46AM (2 children)
We used to keep bees when I was a kid. Any bee keeper in your area would be happy to retrieve a hive (or a real swarm). But, bees don't just hang out in a permanent swarm, so I am not certain of what you are describing-- it sounds like you are describing bees foraging in flowering trees.
FYI when bees do swarm, they are completely docile. When they would rest on e.g., the wall of a building, we would take a large soft brush and sweep them into a box to take back to their new home. With each swipe of the brush, we would sweep 100s into the box, and they would just drop into the box and not try to fly away. Could do this in shorts, short sleeves, sandals, and zero protective gear/smoke and not get a single sting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @05:16AM (1 child)
They have been in the same place, in the base of a hollow rotted out tree in my front yard, for several years now. I see them constantly coming and going from an orifice in the tree trunk, about a foot off ground level. And the place reeks of honey. Had it not been so rainy earlier this year, and got all the weeds going, I would not have applied any glyphosate to the weeds, but I had to do something before they got knee high and the neighbors start complaining about unkempt yards - and its too warm..
The bees will defend their turf if I mess around there too long. I have already received two stings, but so far they have not ganged up on me, both times it seemed to be a solitary bee concerned that I might harm their home, and both times I was pruning in the immediate vicinity. So I loaded up the sprayer with glyphosate and did a late night quietly executed sneak run on the weeds, as I was trying to be as careful as I could to minimize the amount of overspray. If I am not careful, I will have dandelions all over the place, as well as irate neighbors really pissed that my dandelions are seeding their yard with numerous airborne offspring and making a lot of work for them as well to clean up. I can't say as I blame them either. It seems everyone in my neighborhood hates dandelions, and he who has some best get rid of them, but hopefully if I don't rub anyones nose in it, they will overlook the bee hive.
I figure the bees have got to live somewhere, and where they picked is out is one of the few places in the whole neighborhood they could possibly be without causing major havoc with kids or gardeners. If anyone complains, I will have to get rid of them one way or another.
(Score: 2) by EETech1 on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:55AM
My folks had some wasps that moved into their dead apple tree stump.
I used a water bottle full of good old gasoline to get rid of them
Just squirt it in, run like heck, and throw a flaming stick at it.
Theirs even exploded and blasted flaming waps everywhere, it was awesome:)
*Caution may create an explosion of flamming wasps.