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