Bees Complicate Rescue Of MVC Victims

Firefighters sprayed tens of thousands of gallons of water on the bees to keep them contained

By Jessica Fleming
St. Paul Pioneer Press

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LAKEVILLE, Minn. — When Lakeville Fire Chief Scott Nelson arrived at a multivehicle crash on Interstate 35 late Monday morning, a black cloud hovered overhead.

He didn't know what it was.

"But I found out real quick," Nelson said. "I opened my door and got stung in the face."

Thousands of honeybees had escaped from a truck, one of two semitrailers and two automobiles involved in an 11:30 a.m. crash near County Road 70 that killed the drivers of the two cars.

State Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske said angry bees hampered efforts to clear the scene. A five-mile stretch of northbound I-35 between County Road 2 and County Road 70 remained closed until 7:10 p.m.

One of the car drivers was pronounced dead at the scene. That victim was not immediately identified, pending notification of relatives. The critically injured driver of the other car, Kari Rasmussen, 24, of St. Anthony, was airlifted to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, but she died there Monday evening.

The semitrailer drivers were identified as Darren Straus, 37, of Fertile, Minn., and Jason Styrbicky, 36, of Buffalo, Minn. Neither was injured.

The investigation into what caused the accident was not complete, but road construction a few hundred feet ahead of the crash might have been a factor. Dale Bauer of Bauer Honey Inc. said he was told the driver of his truck stopped because of the construction, and another vehicle rear-ended him.

Boxes of bees spilled from the crushed back end of the Bauer truck. Firefighters sprayed what Nelson estimated was tens of thousands of gallons of water on the bees to keep them contained.

Roeske and Nelson said they had never seen anything like the incident.

"We're taking direction from the beekeepers on this one," Nelson said.

Nelson said an ambulance was standing by in case anyone with an allergy to bee stings was stung. Officers told people in the southbound lanes to roll up their windows to keep bees from getting in.

By about 2 p.m., most of the small vehicles had been able to turn around and drive off the closed roadway, but semitrailers were still stuck. The trucks, too big to turn around, backed south on the freeway and got off at the County Road 2 exit.

Firefighters and other first responders donned suits and face masks, but from the waving arms of some of those on the scene, it was apparent the bees were still a nuisance.

"We're all taking a sting here, a sting there," Nelson said Monday afternoon.

At least one firefighter had to be treated for heat exhaustion, with temperatures soaring into the mid-90s and full fire suits required to keep the bees at bay.

The bee truck was one of two carrying honeybees from Mississippi, where they were being held during the winter, to North Dakota, Bauer said. He estimated each truck carried upward of 18 million bees. The other truck was not involved in the crash.

The drivers of the bee trucks helped firefighters determine how to contain the bees, Nelson said.

Trucks from Lakeville and the Elko New Market fire departments were shuttling water to the scene.

"I'm kind of hoping we can save some of the bees," Bauer said late Monday afternoon. "But I don't know; they've been sitting there an awful long time."

Bauer said the bees make up about 10 percent of his Fertile, Minn.-based business.

But it didn't much matter to Bauer, who was thinking about the families of those involved in the crash.

"I'm just so sorry about those people who got killed and hurt," he said.

Another truck was sent to pick up the bees that could be salvaged. Bauer said forklift operators in protective suits would transfer the bees.

Dr. Marla Spivak, of the University of Minnesota's entomology department, said local rescue crews should have sprayed the escaped bees with special foam that firefighters across the country use to kill bees on contact. She said hosing the bees might have irritated them more.

"(The water) just makes them angrier," Spivak said. "They are probably already disoriented. They are probably confused."

But Bauer said the volume of water coming out of a firehose likely would end up killing most of the bees. Nelson said the fire department planned to use firefighting foam on the remainder of the bees after the crash scene was cleared.