Posted on 03/07/2014 12:44:57 PM PST by nickcarraway
A 71-year-old woman and three firefighters Friday were recovering at a Riverside County hospital after they were attacked by thousands of killer bees.
The incident happened around 4:40 p.m. Thursday in a gated community on Lucerne Drive in Palm Desert, CalFire said.
The woman suffered 1,000 stings and looked like she was wearing a “suit of bees” when firefighters found her, Battalion Chief Mark Williams said.
She was quickly put into an ambulance and taken to a local hospital with major injuries. The woman went into shock, but is expected to recover.
Five firefighters suffered stings to their faces and necks during the rescue. Two were treated on scene, while three others were transported to Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage with minor injuries, according to CalFire.
The bees, which are attracted to vibrations, had swarmed inside a phone company’s metal box containing fiber optic equipment. A private company was later called to remove two hives said there were “approximately 60,000-70,000 confirmed Africanized honey bees,” officials said.
Africanized honey bees, commonly known as killer bees, arrived in the Coachella Valley in the 1990s, the Desert Sun reported.
“A local beekeeper once told me that Africanized bees have a warning behavior of flying into you, so if you notice bees bumping into you, go the other way. “
Interesting. Never heard that before. Thanks for the tip.
Sad to hear it. Hive mortality has been bad but I think folks have taken the tack that it is what it is and just split hives like crazy. If you’re gonna lose a third, double your hives and you’ll end up with what you had or a litttle better. Since I’ve not kept bees before varroa I have nothing to compare it to.
So far this year all my hives are alive or at least they were a week ago so its looking good. I think the bees are developing something of a tolerance for the mites and with the relatively soft treatments there is less reason to shy away from treating. We’ll see how it goes but I’m optimistic.....
....and then some other dread disease or pest will come in. Exploding brood? Self immolating drones?
One big change that I’m seeing evolve is the aversion to package bees. People are doing nucs.
Oh and we’re just the barely tolerated staff sent to serve the colony.
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