Bee attack in Harlingen, families & firefighters stung
Posted: 08.02.2010 at 11:13 PM
Harlingen firefighters rushed inside a Harlingen home Monday afternoon to rescue a toddler and two other young kids who were stung numerous times by bees.
           
Sylvia Torres is their grandmother.
           
"I was running them out to get them out together... everyone is stung... all my kids," she said while crying.
           
One of the hero firefighters said the bees entered through open windows.          
           
The rescuer, who did not want his identity revealed, described how adrenaline and pure instinct kicked in when he saw the children being stung.
           
"I covered him up and said look...there are bees... and we're going to run," he said.
           
A waiting ambulance treated the injured at the scene along North 77 near Commerce Street.
           
Other children, including one of them who was visibly frightened and sweating, were sheltered in a nearby truck.
          
 Reporter: "What scares you the most?"
           
Child: "Bees and wasps... I'm allergic to both."
           
They were all collateral damage following an earlier attempt by firefighters and animal control to kill aggressive honey bees behind another home nearby on North Shirley Street.
           
"We're going in to collect the tires and see if we can remove the honey combs and the honey bees," the animal control officer said.
           
The bees first unleashed fury on Juan Martinez who was mowing his mother's yard at the time.
           
"I was cutting the yard and then 20 bees attacked me on my face," Martinez said.
           
The bees then turned on a pit bull in the back yard, according to Martinez.
           
"He was stung about a 1,000 times."
           
One neighbor watched the stinging frenzy in total shock.
           
"He was just barking and barking and of course they were at him and I just saw him take off," Pete Vargas said.  "He got stung pretty bad."
           
Laura Calvillo said her friend is the person who called for help.
           
"We just saw some bees around him and he was fighting them off... he said that he couldn't do anything ... so she called 9-1-1," Calvillo said.
           
It's a call that likely saved people from more serious injuries.      
           
None of the those stung, including a firefighter, needed to be hospitalized.
           
Firefighters estimate they killed about 7,000 bees with water and soap after the 4 hour long assault.