Millions of Bees Perish in Riverside County, CA, Brush Fire

A Riverside County beekeeper lost millions of bees in last week's Verona fire and warns that the effects of the devastation will be widespread.

Brandon Teller, one of the county's most prominent beekeepers, saw a Watch Duty fire notification on May 19 and headed straight to his apiary.

A brush fire had been reported in the Juniper Springs neighborhood of Riverside County at 12:20 p.m. that day, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. That blaze, dubbed the Verona fire, prompted evacuation orders in the community of Homeland.

One firefighter and one civilian sustained minor injuries in the fire and were transported to a hospital for treatment.

"When I got up there, my landowner was already in active firefighting mode," he told The Times. His entire field was on fire, and the flames shot up as high as nearby palm trees — some 40 feet into the air.

"The bees were in that field," Teller said, "and once the fire passed through, we tried to save whatever hives we could that weren't on fire."

In all, Teller lost 80 established hives as well as 16 hives with bees he has rescued as part of his bee removal business. With each hive containing roughly 40,000 to 60,000 individuals, total losses were estimated at 3 million to 4 million bees.

Nine hives survived and will need rehabilitation for the remainder of the year.

Teller's bees were used for pollinating crops such as almonds on farms, and he also rescued bees before rehabilitating them and later renting them out for pollination.

Although farmers in Riverside County should be able to turn to other companies to rent their honeybees for pollination needs, Teller anticipates downstream effects for bee removal customers.

Because his bee boxes — the structures used to house his colonies — all burned, Teller's costs will go up. "Extermination usually is about the same price as a live bee removal," he said, so increased costs may drive more people to exterminate rather than relocate the bees on their property.

"We could look at millions of bees dying because we can't perform that service at the price that we used to," Teller said. "I didn't realize the ripple effect of something like this until it happened."

If people exterminate hives, native pollinators such as monarch butterflies, bumblebees, wasps and more can also be affected by the insecticides used. Exterminators charge extra for extraction and often leave contaminated hives behind after applying insecticides.

"All of California's native biodiversity go into that contaminated hive," he said, and can be killed off as well.

Teller stressed that native insects are critical to local ecosystems, and that his imported honeybees in fact depend on native ecology. "When we have a healthy ecosystem with healthy pollinators, our [bees] will do a lot better," he said.

After the destruction of the Verona fire, Teller was taken aback by the support from neighbors and even his competition in the beekeeping business.

Many people have used the services of Teller's company, bought its honey, asked for bee removal. Now, some competitors are donating their extra bees to him, he said. He has already brought in 30 donated hives and is establishing them on his property.

"It's just amazing, the community support," Teller said.

Times staff writer Clara Harter contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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