Pennsylvania Honey Bee Emergency Response

This information is provided by Penn State Extension and the Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association to offer structured guidance for first responders handling bee-related emergencies, such as transport crashes or localized incidents, with a focus on human, bee, and environmental safety.

Purpose

To coordinate rapid, safe, and organized responses to incidents involving honey bees, protecting the public and responders, and minimizing bee loss. This document emphasizes collaboration between EMS, beekeepers, and transporters to minimize stings and environmental hazards.

Overview of Bee Transportation and Risks

• Scale: Billions of honey bees are trucked through Pennsylvania annually on flatbeds/semi-trailers, often palletized with 4–6 hives per pallet, then netted and strapped. Small loads tend not to be palletized or netted. Loads vary and can contain as many as 450 hives.
• Transport: Hives are routinely moved multiple times a year for pollination/honey production. Primary east–west corridors are I-76 (PA Turnpike), I-80, and major U.S. routes US-6, US-22, and US-30. The primary north–south corridors are I-81 and theU.S. routes US-15 and US-220. Rural and secondary roads are often the final access routes to the destination and are also commonly used for staging, loading, and unloading when field conditions are unsuitable.
• Behavior: During an incident, escaped bees around the debris field can become agitated/defensive, may linger in the area for days, and are often drawn to nighttime lights. Response guidance focuses on misting the bees with water to reduce agitation and limiting/avoiding white lights. Bees fly more in daylight/heat and crawl at night/cold. Stings occur when bees are threatened (barbed stingers release pheromones that attract more bees). Colonies (50,000+ bees) can overheat quickly when stopped.
• Hazards: transportation crashes release millions of bees, posing sting risks with possible allergic reactions. Honey/debris attracts wildlife. Treat a bee-load crash like a hazmat scene. Create a ~300-yard hot zone/perimeter with traffic control, avoid white lightsand use red lights instead, and plan for high-sting exposure with possible anaphylaxis, plus heat-stress risk for responders working in full suits.

Non-Transportation Incidents

• Stationary apiaries, fixed-yard apiaries, residential yards, parked and loaded trailers, staged colonies.
• Tree trimming/storm cleanup: Chainsaws and falling limbs can strike hives, tip pallets, or crush boxes; vibration/noise can also trigger defensive behavior.
• Powerline and utility right-of-way maintenance: Bucket trucks, mowers, and line work often occur along field edges where hives sit; equipment can hit stands/pallets or block access, leading to unintentional disturbance.
• Loading/unloading incidents: forklift tip-over, pallet drop, dock/field staging mishaps, or uneven ground causing a stack to fall
• Unintentional impacts: Delivery trucks, ATVs, or loaders cutting a corner into a field edge can clip pallets or stands and spill hives.

Human Safety

• Honey bees can sting through everyday clothing, including jeans. A properly fitted beekeeping suit provides much better protection and reduces the chance of repeated stings.
• Make sure all clothing and PPE is sealed so bees can't crawl inside. Tuck pants into boots, shirts into pants, and sleeves into gloves, then tape around ankles and other openings to close any gaps.
• Bees are strongly attracted to bright white lights at night. Use red headlamps when possible, and avoid white flashlights and vehicle headlights for scene lighting whenever safety allows.
• If you feel overwhelmed, get bees inside your suit, or need to remove a stinger, calmly walk away from the bee activity. Defensive bees may follow, so move away from the scene and never lead bees toward unsuited responders or bystanders.

Pre-Incident Preparation

• Disclosure: Individuals with bee sting allergies should make it known. These individuals should not be involved in response to honey bee emergencies.
• Training: Integrate bee spill scenarios into hazmat courses for law enforcement, fire/EMS, tow services, and transporters. Annual workshops/webinars/newsletters on bee behavior, PPE, and response.
• Kits/PPE: Include: full-body suits/coveralls/veils/gloves/boots, and duct tape. While turnout gear may be an option, it typically doesn’t fit tight enough to be effective.

Immediate Response Steps

1. Secure Scene: Treat a bee-load crash like a hazmat incident. Establish a 300-yard hot zone with traffic control, use red lights instead of white lights, and prepare for heavy sting exposure and possible anaphylaxis. Alert responding units to have epinephrine available. Also, plan for heat-stress risk for responders working in full protective suits.
2. Assess/Protect Responders: Suit up, tuck/tape clothing to seal gaps. When possible, approach upwind. If stung, remove the stinger away from the scene. Monitor personnel for allergic reactions.
3. Manage Bees: If they are not present at the scene, contact the owner or responsible party to decide what should be done with any remaining bees, confirm the cleanup goal, and determine whether foaming is necessary. For best results, use a fine mist of water across the scene to simulate rain, prompting flying bees to stop and cluster on equipment rather than roam, reducing defensive behavior and enhancing safety for first responders. Mist also provides evaporative cooling for hives, lowering temperatures in low-airflow scenarios and preventing heat stress for the bees. The overall result is fewer airborne bees, minimizing stings and chaos around personnel. It adds an element of control of the hot zone as bees stay clustered, allowing quicker perimeter establishment. It will provide more time for safe operations such as extrication, fire suppression, traffic control, and debris management while awaiting beekeepers.
4. Evacuate/Assist: Prioritize human safety; walk away if overwhelmed. Agitated bees may follow. Avoid swatting.

Post-Incident Actions and Risk of Honey Bee Heat Stress

• Cleanup: Remove debris; wash honey to avoid attracting wildlife. Leave hive boxes overnight for stragglers; destroy remnants if unsafe.
• A dumpster, dump trailer, or roll-off may be needed for debris removal. Hive bodies lose integrity quickly when not staked in their traditional configuration.
• Monitor the site for lingering bees 48 hours post-incident or until displaced bees are no longer a concern.

Managing Hives Displaced from The Load

• If hives are dislodged onto the roadway, local beekeepers can be called to remove bees and equipment and help clear the scene. Commercial beekeepers are often best equipped to respond, with the staff, equipment, and experience to safely move hives. Use the emergency contact list below to reach the right people.
• You may also need additional heavy equipment to stabilize and remove the load. Contact local trucking companies or farmers to obtain extra trucks, trailers, and/or forklifts. If much of the gear is shattered and can’t be re-stacked, a dumpster or dump trailer may be needed for debris removal.
• In a rollover or severe crash, expect substantial colony loss and damaged equipment. Beekeepers can relocate surviving hives and loose components to a safer area for later inspection, repair, and reassembly. Moving colonies off-site helps reduce ongoing hazards and allows recovery work to continue.
• When conditions allow, live bees on the ground can be encouraged into empty hive bodies or boxes. Mobile bees will often walk or fly toward equipment by scent. Beekeepers may leave some equipment near the site as a "collection point," then retrieve it after dark. If collection isn't feasible and bees remain hazardous, they may need to be destroyed to protect people and animals.
• Residual honey and hive debris can attract bees and other wildlife and create additional hazards after the initial response. Once the scene is stabilized, return to remove the remaining equipment and clean up thespilled honey. Washing down the area helps reduce re-attraction and lowers the risk of secondary incidents.

Key Contacts/Resources

Karen Roccasecca, State Apiarist, kroccasecc@pa.gov, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, 717-346-9567

Dr. Robyn Underwood, Penn State Extension Educator, rmu1@psu.edu, Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University 484-268-5208

Mark Gingrich, EAS Certified Master Beekeeper, mgingrich@gingrichapiaries.com Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association, President Emeritus 717-817-1398

The Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association maintains a statewide list of local beekeeping clubs. While many members are small-scale, stationary beekeepers who may not be equipped to respond individually to a honey bee transport crash, they could provide meaningful support if organized, coordinated, and pooled as a collective resource.