Stanislaus County firefighters found themselves battling more than just a wildfire when bees descended on the crews sent to battle the morning blaze.
The Modesto Fire Department and Cal Fire responded to an incident on private property where dozens of beehive boxes along Sonora Road caught fire Thursday morning. The fire is believed to have been started by a faulty bee smoker, according to Jim Black, battalion chief for the Modesto Fire Department.
Winds pushed the fire until it scorched 1.6 acres of nearby grass, Black said, and the road was briefly blocked as firefighters extinguished the blaze within 15 minutes. Firefighters were unable to save any of the bee boxes, and it's unclear how many bees died, Black said.
But as the flames and smoke died down, the skies filled with the buzzing of angry, displaced bees.
“When the fire went out, all the bees came back and swarmed overhead. Several firefighters were stung,” Black said. “No one had to go to the hospital and no one was allergic.”
As the firefighters returned to the station, hundreds of hitchhikers were also with them: a swarm of bees clung to the windshield and doors of the fire truck.
“We had to spray them with water to get them to come off the motor,” Black said. It was unclear whether the hive was simply following a queen bee that had attached itself to the motor, he added.
Firefighters are trained to fight fires, not angry bees, Black said.
“In the 21 years I've been a firefighter there, this is the first time I've seen that,” he said.
