SAN ANTONIO – It appears everyone who was stung by a swarm of bees in a Northeast Side neighborhood is on the mend now.
The attack by the angry hive happened Tuesday afternoon along Stockdale Street, not far from Perrin Beitel.
The San Antonio Police Department said someone was cutting the grass when the bees suddenly went on the attack.
Police said four people, including a member of their own crew, suffered bee stings.
The firefighter and two civilians had to be rushed to a hospital.
One of the civilians was described as being in critical condition at that time.
A spokesman for SAFD was unable to offer an update Wednesday morning.
However, a man seen leaving the home where the attack happened said that he and another victim were both home from the hospital.
He invited KSAT 12 News to knock on the door and speak with the other victim, but a large swarm of bees kept circling the doorway.
SAFD spokesperson Woody Woodward said the firefighter who was injured suffered a bee sting to his lip.
The fourth person appeared to be Fritz Arriaga’s 98-year-old stepfather, who he said had been stung on his chin.
Arriaga was in his own backyard when the attack happened on the street behind his home. He said he heard someone there cry out, seemingly in pain.
“Just the tone of his voice, when I heard it, you know, ‘Help! Help!’ I knew something was going on,” Arriaga said.
Immediately, Arriaga said, he and his stepfather jumped onto his golf cart and made their way around the block.
He said he saw a man who handed him his cell phone and asked him to speak to 911 dispatchers, who were on the other end of that line.
“I didn’t know what’s going on,” he said. “Then all of a sudden the bees started swarming me, and I’m, like, I know what’s going on now.”
Arriaga said he was concerned for his stepfather and quickly drove his golf cart to a safer spot.
Still, the bees managed to sting the older man one time.
Meanwhile, Arriaga said he noticed one of the other victims badly in need of help.
“He had bites all over his body, and you could see the little stingers,” he said, estimating that the man had been stung “hundreds of times.”
Fire crews arrived and began treating that neighbor, who was among those taken to a hospital.
Molly Keck, an entomologist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, said these kinds of encounters tend to happen more often at this time of year, when bees are on the move.
“Their populations are rising, and they’re on the population increase, and they’re outgrowing the places that they were in,” Keck said.
In this case, Keck estimated that the hive may have been there for a while because honeycomb was present.
“All honeybees can be aggressive,” she said. “They’re social insects, and when they perceive a threat to their home, they will attack that threat.”
If an attack does occur, Keck said the best thing to do is separate yourself physically from the swarm.
She said to get inside a building or into a vehicle as quickly as possible.
In hindsight, Arriaga said he has no regrets about ignoring that advice and heading toward danger.
“If I was in that situation, I would want somebody to come and help me,” Arriaga said. “I had to do something.”
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