Bees sting 4 people in NLV, including letter carrier who is hospitalized

By Brian Nordli

Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013 | 6 p.m.

A swarm of bees attacked four people today outside a home in North Las Vegas.

North Las Vegas Fire responded to reports of a bee attack about 11:10 a.m. outside a home at 3734 Alderwood Drive, near Gowan Road and Allen Lane. The bees stung four people, including a letter carrier, who was transported to University Medical Center with numerous stings, North Las Vegas Fire Capt. Cedric Williams said.

“We have bee calls, but normally it doesn’t end up with someone going to hospital,” Williams said.

Firefighters found a large beehive under the cushions of a loveseat couch outside the home. They replaced their helmets with mesh-screened bee hoods and used a foam typically reserved to smother garbage can fires to suppress and kill some of the bees, Williams said.

The bees were too aggressive for firefighters to call a beekeeper or pest control to rescue them, Williams said.

“We don’t want to kill bees,” Williams said. “If we have any chance to save them or have someone come out and assist we do that.”

While Williams said the foam usually kills the bees quickly, it took nearly two hours and eight firefighters to suppress the swarm.

Fourteen other firefighters were used to block the road and notify residents to stay inside their homes during the incident, Williams said.

The three victims were treated for bee stings at the scene and released. No one else was injured.