Bee swarm attacks hospitalize six – Two victims suffer 70 to 100 stings each
Two people were hospitalized after a Banning bee swarm attack, including one who suffered over 100 stings Saturday, Sept. 28, Cal Fire officials have reported. The attack happened on the 700 block of E. Indian School Ln.
Saturday’s attack followed another similar swarm attack in Hesperia on Thursday, Sept. 26, that hospitalized four victims. Those injured in that attack, which happened at a boat storage yard, included an elderly man who was stung more than 70 times and was left in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, San Bernardino fire officials reported at the time.
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Emergency personnel were first alerted to the Banning incident shortly before 12:30 p.m., according to a Cal Fire social media release.
One victim was transported by ground ambulance to an area hospital with more than 100 stings. The other victim suffered “a handful of stings” and drove them self to the hospital for further treatment, according to Cal Fire’s release.
No updates have been provided and the victims’ current conditions were not immediately available.
After receiving reports of the earlier, Sept. 26 incident in Hesperia, San Bernardino County Fire responded to a boat storage facility in the area of Hercules St. and C Ave around 11:15 a.m.
“Initially, the call was dispatched as an active bee attack in a boat storage yard, and four people had been stung,” San Bernardino County Fire public information officer Kyle Hauducoeur told VVNG.
“We responded with three ambulances and two engines,“ Hauducoeur said. “In total, four people were taken to the hospital, and one of those victims sustained injuries we classify as life-threatening.”
The critically injured victim was rushed to Desert Valley Hospital, according to VVNG.
According to fire officials, Vector Control authorities are still working to determine if the bees involved in the separate attacks were Africanized honey bees, a hybrid of the western honey bee species – which is known to be highly aggressive and defensive – and often referred to as “killer bees”, or members of other varieties of the more common honey bee.
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Trevor Montgomery, 48, moved last year to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, (the now defunct) Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.
Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 29 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 15 – but soon to be 16 – grandchildren.