AZ Pest:: Arizona Pest & Termite Control

AZStarNet.com: Bees Survive Manure Fire

Veronica M. Cruz Arizona Daily Star |

The burning manure pile failed.

But in the end, the bees died.

Their demise started Tuesday afternoon.

That’s when an occupant in a home on the grounds of an old motel dotted with ragtag mobile homes, abandoned vehicles and an assortment of odds and ends in the 2600 block of East Benson Highway found a hive in a storage shed.

A professional bee-removal expert helped get rid of a hive that formed in the same building in February 2011. But bees returned this year with a vengeance.

“When it warmed up again, a whole new aggressive tribe moved in,” said Adam Neal, who lives on the property.

The bees were pestering workers cleaning the property Tuesday, Neal said.

When the workers found manure left behind by a steer belonging to Neal’s brother that had been brought over recently to graze on overgrown grass and weeds, a do-it-yourself bee-removal plan was hatched.

“They were getting stung up yesterday, so one guy lit up a little manure … and let it burn down to where it was just smoking and he put it in a pan in the building,” Neal said.

He thought the workers’ mission had been completed when they left Tuesday afternoon.

But the manure smoldered overnight, and by Wednesday morning the structure was full of smoke.

Then the wind kicked up, and glowing embers swirled inside the shed.

Firefighters rushed to the property about 8:30 a.m. when employees of the nearby Pima County Sheriff’s Department headquarters reported smoke.

When firefighters started to put out the fire, the smoke dissipated and the agitated bees began to swarm.

Firefighters scattered, then returned when the openings in their gear were properly sealed, said Battalion Chief Patrick Quinn, a Tucson Fire Department spokesman.

The fire was soon doused.

The shed was destroyed.

And the beehive was exterminated with foam.

“Killer bees” infest southwest side apartment

TUCSON – An apartment maintenance worker called the fire department after bees made a home in one of the buildings in the complex.

“I looked out the window, heard a buzzing,” resident Duke Schechter said, “and there was a large cloud of bees.”

When firefighters found out nobody was hurt, they told management they would have to get the bees professionally removed.

Pest control companies have been busy with bee calls this spring.

Josh Tennenbaum with Arizona Pest Control removes bee colonies almost every day.

“It seems like the longer the hives are there, the meaner they seem to get,” Tennenbaum said, “so it’s easier just to head it off early.”

Hives will produce more swarms than last year, according to Tennenbaum.

“The temperature and the water was right,” Tennenbaum said, “and all the plants are starting to bloom on time.”

When hives get too big, swarms break off to find a new home. Some “killer bee” hives produce 43 swarms a year, according to Tennenbaum.

All honey bees in Arizona are “Africanized,” according to Tennenbaum.

A person should run away and not swat bees if attacked, according to Tennenbaum.

“And they ask when do they stop running,” Tennenbaum said, “and we say, ‘when they stop stinging.’”

Tucson Bee Control Experts

Have you seen bee swarms yet this spring? They’re out so please remind your community and especially young children not to mess with bees!

Tucson Bee Removal

The bees are out folks. Check out our Arizona Bee Removal photos below. Please bee safe this bee season and call the professional’s before messing with bees. We all remember the vacuum incident from last year, when a man tried to vacuum a hive.