A Riverside County beekeeper lost millions of bees in last week’s fire in Verona and warns the effects of the damage will be widespread.
Brandon Teller, one of the most prominent beekeepers in the region, saw the Watch Duty fire notice on May 19 and went straight to his beehive.
A brush fire was reported in the Juniper Springs area of Riverside County at 12:20 p.m. that day, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. That fire, called the Verona fire, caused orders to be issued to the Homeland community.
One firefighter and one unidentified person suffered minor injuries in the fire and were taken to hospital for treatment.
“When I got there, my landlord was already in the firefighting mode,” he told The Times. His whole field was on fire, and the flames rose as high as the nearby palm trees – about 40 feet in the air.
“The bees were in that field,” Teller said, “and when the fire passed, we tried to save any hives we could from being burned.”
In all, Teller lost 80 suspended hives and 16 bees he rescued as part of his bee removal business. With each hive containing about 40,000 to 60,000 individuals, the total loss is estimated at 3 to 4 million bees.
Nine nests survived and will need to be repaired until the end of the year.
Teller’s bees were used to pollinate crops such as almonds on farms, and he rescued the 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 hire their bees to meet their pollination needs, Teller expects the following results for bee removal customers.
Because his beehives – the structures used to house his colonies – have all burned down, Teller’s costs will rise. “Extermination is usually about the same price as live removal of bees,” he said, so the increased cost may prompt more people to exterminate rather than relocate bees.
“We could be looking at millions of bees dying because we can’t do this work at the price we were doing,” said Teller. “I didn’t see the revolutionary effect of something like this until it happened.”
When people destroy nests, natural insects such as monarch butterflies, bumblebees, wasps and more can be affected by the pesticides used. Pesticides charge extra for removal and often leave behind dirty nests after applying the pesticides.
“All of California’s biodiversity goes into that dirty nest,” he said, and can be killed.
Teller emphasized that native insects are important to the environment, and that his imported bees depend on nature. “When we have a healthy ecosystem with healthy pollinators, that’s ours [bees] we will do much better,” he said.
After the destruction of the Verona fire, Teller was surprised by the support of neighbors and even his competition in the beekeeping business.
Many people used the services of Teller’s company, bought its honey, and asked for the removal of bees. Now, some competitors are offering their extra bees to him, he said. He has delivered 30 donated nests and is establishing them on his property.
“It’s amazing, the community support,” Teller said.
Times writer Clara Harter contributed to this report.
