As temperatures rose making the bees agitated, firefighters sprayed a mix of water and foam on the hives to slow down or kill some of the bees. Masses of dead bees littered the roadway, and swarms of bees surrounded the cameras of television reporters as they swatted away at the insects.
The 3:30 a.m. incident did not injure anyone including the truck driver, and beekeepers were on site within one hour of the wreck, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Sgt. Keith Leary of the State Patrol said the truck carried 458 hives housing nearly 14 million bees worth $92,000. The bees were traveling from Sunnyside, Yakima County, for pollination at a blueberry farm in Lynden, Whatcom County.
Belleville Farms’ Seth Thompson, who called the incident a huge blow to the family business, said 128 hives were able to be saved before the heat meant the hives had to be sprayed down.
Mark Emrich, president of the Washington State Beekeepers Association alluded to the bees as small, flying solar panels.
Leary said investigators are determining whether speed was a factor in the incident and the driver may face traffic citations, but no charges have been issued in the wreck.
The damage left the truck with an overturned front left axle and a mangled wheel.
A towing company pulled away the truck by 8 a.m., but traffic continued to be backed up as cleaning crews took care of the damage on the road. An excavator and dump truck was needed to remove bee hives from the roadways.
The wreck was cleared by Friday afternoon.
Leary said people were fortunate that the incident occurred at a time when the road had the least amount of traffic and that the truck rolled over to the HOV lane and shoulder.
“The biggest issue we have on those scenes … is people taking video or cell phone pictures,” Leary said.
In these kinds of situations, Leary advises motorists to glance and “move down the road instead of getting your paparazzi shot.”
