Battling With Bees on I-5

(Image from: KIRO 7 News)

 

Before I came on duty yesterday, a semi transporting millions of bees rolled over on I-5. 

I saw this young lady on the news, but didn't see her get stung:

(Image from: Q13 FOX)

We didn't get involved until 0700 hours (7 AM, PST), when a dispatcher from WA State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) called and requested support from our Department of Ecology.  This was due to the foam used to kill the bees was flowing into a nearby storm drain.

King 5 News, has a short video of foaming down the bee hives.

But here's what some beekeeper responders looked like wading into the swarm:

(Another image from Q13 FOX)

 

And here's what the mess looked like when the sun came up:

 

(Image from:  RT.com)

 

This incident quickly reminded me of an episode Rescue 911 (Episode 501).

As far as I know, the emergency response managed to clean up the mess within hours, only two lanes of I-5N was closed, and no one was seriously hurt in the Pacific Northwest version of "Swarm Save."