O.C. Gearing Up Now to Cope With Bees’ Arrival

Telephone hot lines are being set up. Schoolchildren and service club members are being talked to. Plants at amusement parks are being pulled and different shrubs plunked in their places. All this to prepare for the bees.

The Africanized honeybees are not expected to begin arriving in Orange County until late 1994 or early 1995. Still, local officials say it will take at least that long for government agencies to perfect contingency plans and for people to learn enough about the bees to calm their fears.

“I think it will be a big problem at first,” said Larry Shaw, a specialist with the Orange County Vector Control District, which oversees pest eradication. “There will be a lot of fears and concerns about the unknown, then people will learn to live with them.”

The bees--which have been making their way slowly northward from Brazil since 1957--look almost exactly like the more familiar European honeybees and have a sting of about the same intensity. Unlike their European cousins, however, the Africanized bees are easily provoked and then tend to attack aggressively in swarms. They are commonly called “killer bees,” a nickname that makes biologists wince because it exaggerates the danger.

To prepare for their arrival, county officials nearly two years ago created the Orange County Africanized Honeybee Technical Advisory Team--a group composed of representatives of various county agencies who meet monthly to make plans and disseminate information.

The team has come up with several prongs of attack. County officials now make regular forays to elementary schools and service club meetings to teach children and adults alike about the bees and what precautions to take. A hot line is being prepared to handle the expected avalanche of calls once the first Africanized honeybee sightings are confirmed. And vector control officials are organizing a five-member eradication team to respond to calls from people who discover bee swarms in their back yards or outdoor property.

The Orange County Fire Department is getting into the act by training its personnel in special rescue techniques to be employed in the event of bee attacks. Some of the department’s trucks are being equipped with special bee vales--netted head coverings--to protect the firefighters who conduct those rescues.

And Disneyland is preparing for possible encounters with the migrating bees. Park officials are maintaining existing contracts with pest controllers to eradicate any Africanized bees that decide to settle there and training all personnel about the insects. In addition, maintenance crews are replacing some bee-friendly plants and flowers, said John McClintock, the park’s supervisor of publicity.

“Because we don’t want our guests inconvenienced or made uncomfortable,” he said, “we have done some replanting in areas around food services to put in different kinds of vegetation less attractive to bees. We believe that we are prepared for any situation that might occur.”

A spokesman for Knott’s Berry Farm said that park officials there had not yet developed a plan to combat potential incursion by the bees. “We’re taking our natural disasters one at a time,” spokesman Bob Ochsner said.

Is all this fuss really necessary?

Experts say that most people likely will be little affected by the infestation unless they happen to disturb a hive. And even then, they say, the average person should be able to outrun the bees quickly enough to get away without serious injury.

In any case, here are the experts’ suggestions:

* Remove any debris from your property that provides dark enclosed areas likely to attract bees. This would include such things as old tires, trees containing large knot-hole cavities, piles of rubble and unused nursery plant containers. Screen off likely shelters such as attic openings, vents and small openings under the house.

* If you find a bee swarm within the structure of your house, contact a local pest control company to eradicate it. If the swarm is outside on or near your property, call the county vector control department.

* Leave the bees alone. Stay as far away from them as possible and avoid making loud noises or strong vibrations such as those associated with power yard tools like blowers and lawn mowers.

* If you are attacked by a swarm of Africanized honeybees, run in a fast zig-zag pattern away from the direction of attack. Cover your face with your shirt or coat and try to make it to a building, car or some other enclosed area as quickly as possible.

* If stung, try to remove the stingers as soon as possible but only after you have reached a safe haven and are no longer in danger of being attacked. Remove the stingers by scraping them off sideways with a sharp implement.

* Do not panic. Consult a physician immediately or as soon as possible and report the stinging incident to local authorities.