Students and staff were participating in a fire drill when they were stung by bees.
QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. — Several students and members of the Queen Creek Junior High School staff were stung by bees on Monday afternoon after they encountered a swarm during a fire drill.
The students were participating in a planned fire drill and were brought to an athletic field on campus as part of the drill. That's when angry bees started flying towards them. Police say there were about 41 people in the impacted area, which triggered a large response by first responders. Four people were treated for stings at the scene.
No one was taken to the hospital, according to Queen Creek PD.
"I got stung on the back of my neck and in my hair," said Karty, an eighth-grade student. "The bees got really mad and they just started stinging everybody they could see."
Students recalled seeing classmates screaming and running.
"We started hearing, like, kids screaming and running around, and we were all like, 'What's happening?' And then we saw a bunch of bees, like, swarming the kids' heads," said Evelyn, an eighth-grade student.
The students say they were then told to stay inside while the scene was contained.
"It was probably the first time I've ever experienced a, like, genuine lockdown at school," said Logan, an eighth-grade student.
A bee removal company, The Beehive Bee and Wasp Removal, was called to the school to assist. They found a 70-pound hive about 35 feet up in a tree near the school's field. They estimate anywhere from 50,000 to 70,000 killer bees could have been inside.
"It can be really dangerous. The bees, when they get angry, the killer bees, they will just swarm, like an unbelievable amount of bees will come after you immediately," said Kevin Hodgson, the owner of The Beehive Bee and Wasp Removal. “They did get lucky with an angry hive. One person can get hundreds of stings."
He said peak season for bees is typically in the spring and summer. Given the size of the hive at the school, Hodgson believes it was there for several months.
“That's probably been there all summer, probably moved in earlier this year, and never got noticed," Hodgson said. "We think one of the kids threw a football at the bees and and then they got pretty ornery.”
Hodgson's crew was able to successfully clean out and remove the hive.
"Usually there's a few bees poking around till the evening and and they'll die off, usually through the night. And we love to catch the bees alive when possible. On a situation like this, you just can't do it," Hodgson said. "Unfortunately, if there's an established hive, they just usually have to be wiped out, especially if they're stinging already."
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