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They’re heeeeeeere.

After months of warnings that they would eventually invade Ventura County, a small swarm of so-called killer bees was discovered earlier this month at the old Bailard Landfill north of Oxnard.

The insects, first thought to be ordinary honeybees because of their similar appearance and seemingly docile nature, were destroyed without incident on Oct. 4 after being found by a worker monitoring the closed-down landfill.

Dozens of the dead bees were turned over to the Ventura County agricultural commissioner’s office, which routed them to state analysts to determine if they were of the Africanized variety.

DNA analysis confirmed Thursday that they were killer bees, making Ventura County the latest Southern California county to go on full bee-enforcement alert.

“I was quite surprised, to be honest with you, but I also knew that it was just a matter of time,” county Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail said Friday. “I’m not sure there’s reason for drastic alarm, but there’s obviously reason for a heightened sense of awareness and the use of a little more caution.”

The bees are no more harmful individually than the common honeybee, but their aggressiveness is legendary.

They are quicker to anger than their European counterparts, they respond in greater numbers and pursue intruders for greater distances.

People have died after being stung 100 to 300 times, but the average lethal dose for an adult is 500 to 1,000 bee stings. At least five people in the southern United States have been killed by the bees. Last year, a San Bernardino gardener survived after being stung more than 90 times when he hit a hive with a weed cutter.

While the pests are not native to the Western Hemisphere, they have been working their way northward from South America since their arrival from Africa in 1956. The population has spread 200 to 300 miles a year and reached California in 1994.

With the discovery in Ventura County, Africanized honeybees have now colonized nearly 44,000 square miles in California, including all of Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

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Numerous plans to stop the bees have failed, so the mission now is to coexist and be aware of the dangers.

“There’s no trap for them, there’s nothing really to stop the spread of this pest,” said Oscar Hidalgo, a spokesman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture. “The best advice is for people to be aware of their surroundings and to take steps to prevent a hive from taking root and growing into a dangerous situation. These pests are defensive, and if they perceive you as a threat they will attack, and attack in numbers.”

Good thing for Bill Drow that he didn’t provoke any bees.

The maintenance worker actually discovered the hive months ago while making his rounds at the landfill. Drow, who works for Ogden Power Pacific Inc., is responsible for monitoring the extraction of methane gas from the landfill.

One day, he noticed that the bees had set up house in one of the monitoring stations--rectangular plastic boxes that dot the old dump. Other than being unusually active, the bees kept to themselves, and Drow didn’t give them much thought.

At least not until earlier this month, when he tried to remove the lid to the plastic box and discovered that he couldn’t lift it because of the weight of the beehive.

Drow alerted officials with the Ventura Regional Sanitation District--which oversees the landfill--who had recently attended a training course on killer bees and knew to contact the agricultural commissioner’s office.

The bees were destroyed, the samples sent to Sacramento and the results made known to sanitation officials on Friday.

“It wasn’t totally unexpected,” said Gary Haden, the sanitation district’s director of solid waste. “The fact that the bees have been migrating north, it was bound to happen, and a landfill is as good a place as any. But now that everybody has been alerted, I imagine more people will get involved in training.”

Until this week’s confirmation, the nearest confirmed discovery of Africanized honeybees was in a Calabasas oak tree just east of the Ventura County line.

Now, Hidalgo said a 20-mile area around the landfill is considered to be colonized by the aggressive honeybee. Even so, officials at nearby Oxnard High School said they weren’t aware of the discovery and weren’t taking extra precautions as a result of the find.

“If there was a concern, people in our district office would be aware of that and take whatever precautions were needed to ensure the safety of our students and staff,” Principal Jim Nielsen said.

For now, county officials say the best precaution remains being aware that the Africanized bees have arrived. Homeowners should inspect their properties and clear any potential nesting sites, such as tires, flower pots and stacks of wood.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Africanized Bee

The danger:

The bees are no more harmful individually than the common honeybee, but their aggressiveness is legend-ary. Easily infuriated, they will swarm against a perceived danger, delivering hundreds of stings.

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* How far bees will chase:

European bee: Defends up to 450 yards

Africanized bee: Defends up to half a mile

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* Time bees take to anger:

European bee: 19 seconds

Africanized bee: 3 seconds