By Isadora Vail
The AustinAmerican-Statesman
AUSTIN, Texas — An Austin emergency services district commander reported arriving at the scene of a deadly wreck Monday night in Williamson County and having thousands of bees hitting his car “like hailstones.”
Public safety officials described an unusual scene: a flipped vehicle on fire, one person dead and nine emergency workers and bystanders being stung by an aggravated swarm of bees.
Officials said the bees did not cause the wreck, but the swarm proved to be an impediment for firefighters and emergency crews, causing the cleanup to last a couple of hours longer than usual.
“We have incidents involving bees a few times a year, but this is the first I have heard of that the bees actually interfered with a rescue,” said Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services spokesman Warren Hassinger. “So this was a bit unusual.”
Hassinger quoted from an incident report from the EMS commander, who described the plethora of bees hitting his vehicle like hail. The report was not made available.
The wreck occurred shortly before 8 p.m. on FM 1325 in Williamson County just north of the Travis County line.
Officials said Pablo Quirindongo, 28, lost control of the 2005 Acura he was driving at a high speed. Passenger Paola Andrea Aragon, 27, was thrown from the car as it flipped, and she died before EMS arrived, officials said. They said she was not wearing a seat belt.
Before catching fire, the car hit a post or a mailbox that had a beehive attached, officials said. Quirindongo, who was stung, was taken to University Medical Center at Brackenridge for treatment and released.
Also stung were three Round Rock firefighters, two Williamson County EMS workers, one Pflugerville firefighter and two bystanders.
The bystanders and the Pflugerville firefighter were taken to area hospitals and later released.
The firefighter, whose name was not released, was stung several times but is expected to return to work Thursday, officials said.
The others who were stung received treatment at the scene.
The bees could have become aggravated by several things, Hassinger said, including the fire, the smoke or the impact of the crash.
The swarm forced the emergency workers from Pflugerville and Austin to put on hazardous material suits before trying to put the fire out and get Quirindongo to safety.
“It was quite a mess out there,” Round Rock Fire Chief Larry Hodge said. “It was a tragic incident, and everything was hampered by the bees.”
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