Swarm of angry bees descend on USFS workers, sending 18-year-old to GRH with over 200 stings

The swarm of honeybees came from these bee boxes located about 100 feet off of Downs Road. - Submitted Photo

Zach Gray, 18, swatted at a bee that stung the back of his neck, resulting in a swarm of bees stinging him more than 200 times.

A couple of nearby workers rescued him and may have saved his life. Gray was taken to the hospital, treated for six hours and released. He is expected to make a full recovery.

Gray and Richard Mills, 18, who are both engineering technicians for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, stopped at the junction of Wass Road and Airport Way near the La Grande Air Tanker Base to lock a toolbox in the back of their service vehicle.

“As I got out of the truck to lock it, I felt a bee sting on the back of my neck,” said Gray. “I swatted at it and killed it, and next thing I knew there were bees all over me.”

Mills quickly went to help Gray, but the bees began attacking him, forcing him to run in the opposite direction.

At the same time, Daren Coon and Shannon Rogers, employees of nearby Northwood Manufacturing, were shuttling equipment between buildings and saw what was happening.

“Me and my boss were loading a unit, and bees started stinging us, so we jumped in the truck,” said Coon. “Then we saw two guys who looked like they were getting stung — their arms were swatting their faces.”

Coon and Rogers drove over near the incident as one person ran toward them and the other in the opposite direction. Mills jumped in the back of their pickup truck as bees swarmed him.

Next, they went for Gray.

“By 20 yards, you could see the hover of bees — you couldn’t even see his face,” said Coon. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

After yelling at Gray to get into the back of their pickup, Rogers and Coon drove them to Northwood Manufacturing to hose the bees off their bodies while also calling 9-1-1 for help.

“He was near collapse when we got to him,” said Coon. “I’ve never seen honeybees attack like that before.”

The honeybees had come from beehives in bee boxes stacked on pallets in a field, about 100 feet off of Downs Road near Northwood.

“We put those bees there the night before — we stacked them up, ready to put on a semi for Washington,” said Keith Bobo, a third-generation beekeeper and owner of the bees. “(The driver) didn’t make it in that night, so we loaded them up for the next night.”

Why the bees were so aggressive is unknown.

“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “There’s a lot of bees together, so they are a little more aggressive, but I’ve never had a problem before.”

There were 408 hives stored in more than 800 boxes that were to be shipped to Washington.

“They were also hanging on the one front corner more than the rest, called drift,” he said. “For some reason, they couldn’t find their way to their personal hive.”

La Grande/Union County Airport called Bobo to inform him that a few helicopters had gone by that morning. The heat could have been a factor as well.

“There was something wrong with those bees for sure,” said Coon. “If we wouldn’t have gotten to him, I think they woulda killed him.”

EMTs and paramedics rushed Gray to Grande Ronde Hospital. After six hours in the emergency room and receiving shots of steroids and other medications for swelling and pain, Gray is expected to make a full recovery.

“Good Samaritans at the right time saved his life,” said Mark Gomez, road manager for the La Grande Ranger District for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in an e-mail to staff. “With nowhere to run, it would have been a matter of seconds until they would have taken Zach down in their anger.”

“I’d like to thank them for saving my life,” said Gray. “I wouldn’t have been able to get away — they helped me out like any great person would.”

The bees have been removed and are now in Washington at a job site.