Bee stings can be serious if you are allergic or if you are being attacked by many.  If you see a hive, do not touch it. Get to safety and then call for the hive to be removed by a professional or call 911 if the bees are threatening someone's life.

Bee Safety
Be cautious when dealing with bees. Leave bees alone, but if you are attacked:

  • Cover your face
  • Run immediately into a building or vehicle 
  • Do not swat at the bees 
  • Do not jump into a pool (some varieties of bees will wait for you to come up for air) 
  • Call 9-1-1 if someone is being attacked

Bees must be taken seriously. Stings can be life threatening. If you or a family member have been stung, immediately contact Poison Control at 602.253.3334 to determine whether the sting can be managed at home or needs medical attention. Parents, take a moment to tell your children what to do if there are bees in the area.

A swarm is a small colony looking to establish a new colony. It may appear as a cloud of bees or a group formed like a ball clinging to a branch. Swarming usually occurs from February through May, and again in October. A swarm can be as large as 60,000 or more bees. If you notice a swarm that is not attacking, walk slowly and quietly away from it and find shelter in a building or vehicle.

Normally, people and bees can coexist, however, with the migration of aggressive Africanized honey bees into the Valley in recent years, experts expect to see an increase in bee incidents. Bee attacks usually occur when bees are swarming or if they are protecting their hive. If someone tries to remove the bees or a hive, agitates the bees by swatting at them, or startling them with the noise from power equipment such as lawn mowers or blowers, a stinging emergency can happen.

Do not try to remove the bees yourself, and do not call 9-1-1 unless the bees are attacking and someone is in a life-threatening situation.

News:

Several dozen people stung after swarm of bees attack in Tucson