Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Submission Preview

Link to Story

SoCal Woman Stung "Hundreds of Times" by Swarm of Bees; Critically Injured

Accepted submission by -- OriginalOwner_ http://tinyurl.com/OriginalOwner at 2018-07-17 00:15:51 from the easily-aggitated-bugs-moving-northward dept.
News

KTLA, TV Channel 5 in Southern California, reports [ktla.com]

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.

OC map [ronforhomes.com] SoCal map [vipapplianceservice.com]

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?


Original Submission