The accident scene you really don't want to be sent to

[dianeduane]

After 16-year-old Jacqueline Cossairt of Markle lost control of a sport utility vehicle on gravel-covered Wells County Road 1050 North about 4:30 p.m., it struck an old hollow tree, rousting 80,000 to 100,000 honeybees inside.

By the time Ossian Volunteer Fire Chief Kent Gilbert arrived he found a black cloud of the insects swarming around the GMC Envoy.

“Those bees were mad,” he said. “I’ve never seen bees, especially honeybees, attack like that.”

And those angry bees turned what Gilbert said should have been a 10-minute extrication of the teen who was pinned inside her truck into 45 agonizing minutes as firefighters tried to figure out a way to safely work among the bees.

Cripes, what a nightmare.

Comments

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

I love it - firefighters setting fires. So Farenheit 451.

I'd have been tempted to try large amounts of foam.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

not sure that foam would hit airborne bees enough...
but you'd think they'd try something wouldn't you. Rather than just try to tough it out...

[korenwolf.livejournal.com]

Assuming the car was secure (ie not letting bees in) then the best thing to do would have been to tow it far enough away (anything up to a mile or so) and then start pumping out the foam to deter the remaining bees from landing.

Pissed honeybees are not nice little creatures, trust me on this.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

They did. They used foam, which apperently helped but not enough. When bees get really riled they don't care about smoke, foam will physically incapacitate them but only when it actually strikes. The article doesn't say whether the truck was towable, presumably not.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

I don't think they'd tow, too much risk of jolting the driver who could have a possible neck/spinal injury. They'd want to get her stabilised and out first... something that wouldn't be helped by either foam or bees.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Remind me next time to read the article.

I was thinking more of the difficulty bees would have in getting through a thick blanket of foam, to be honest, rather than as a knock down weapon. It seems that that worked, to a certain extent, but not enough.