PHOENIX — After a swarm of bees stung a hiker more than 100 times at Lookout Mountain in Phoenix on Saturday, ABC15 is looking into whether these hives are becoming more active right now.
The views on Lookout Mountain can be breathtaking, but so can the dangers when it comes to bees.
“A lot of our trails actually all around — Camelback, Papago, South Mountain, Lookout Mountain — there’s a lot of beehives everywhere. Obviously, bees are very prominent in lots of areas,” said Capt. D.J. Lee of the Phoenix Fire Department.
On Saturday, fire crews from Phoenix and Glendale responded to Lookout Mountain near 16th Street and Greenway Park, finding a man near the summit who had been stung more than a hundred times by bees.
A helicopter hoisted him off the mountain, where an ambulance then took him from the trailhead to the hospital in critical condition.
One bee removal expert we spoke with says hives are getting more active now because of the hotter temperatures we have recently seen, and it is keeping his company busy.
“We’ve been probably the busiest we’ve ever been since March 2 ... that early on in the year,” said Kendall Torrejos, the owner of Arizona Professional Bee Removal.
Lookout Mountain is known to have beehives in the area, and that’s why the city has put up signs to warn hikers.
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Experts say most of the bees we see in the Valley are Africanized honeybees, which are more aggressive and territorial. Bees become more active when it is hotter out as they look for more water for their colony. More plants are blossoming, too, which bees love.
“If an Africanized honeybee were to sting you, they do leave a little pheromone behind, and that causes all the other bees in the colony to react and come to that location,” said Torrejos.
So what should you do if you come across a large number of bees? Firefighters say you should calmly turn around and head in the other direction. If they start coming at you, run and get indoors or into your car. Do not jump into a pool of water.
“If you do start getting attacked or stung, get out as fast as you can. Cover your neck, your face as best you can, try to find cover,” said Lee.
