People stung when truck of bee hives parks in neighborhood

By Las Vegas Sun Staff (contact)

Wednesday, June 23, 2010 | 9:46 p.m.

A number of people were stung by bees Wednesday afternoon after a flatbed truck transporting hives was left parked near a city park, Las Vegas Fire and Rescue officials said.

A deputy city marshal was patrolling Patriot Park, near Alexander Road and Decatur Boulevard, when the deputy noticed an unusual number of bees later found to be coming from the truck, officials said.

When firefighters arrived, they found the trailer stacked with bee hives being transported from Southern California to North Dakota, officials said.

Some people in the surrounding neighborhood and firefighters were stung, but nobody was seriously injured, officials said.

Police closed roads in the area for about an hour, and firefighters went door to door and advised people to stay inside.

Firefighters began to spray a fine water fog over the truck to cool the bees, which were beginning to die because they were being exposed to direct sunlight, officials said.

The driver arrived back at the truck and told firefighters he lived nearby and had decided to take a break and stop at his home, officials said.

It is not known how long the truck was parked, but to keep the bees alive in the heat, the truck needed to be moving to fan the bees, according to the owner, who lives out of state, fire officials said.

Police escorted the truck on its way to Interstate 15. A number of bees were still in the area after the truck left, but bee experts said most of them would die within a couple days because of the heat, officials said.

The bees are hauled to various locations around the United States during crop-growing season for pollination.