Plumber Steps in to Help Grandmother Being Attacked by Swarm of Bees

A San Diego-area grandmother is recovering after she was attacked by dozens of bees — and her family is thanking a local plumber who helped rescue her from the swarm.

Fire officials in Santee, Calif., received a call at around 10 a.m. local time on Thursday, July 24, asking for medical assistance for a woman in her 50s named Juana, who had been swarmed by around 100 bees as she was napping outdoors, according to FOX 5 San Diego.

Kyle Ritchie, Juana’s grandson-in-law, told the outlet that the bees had been forming a clump on a tree outside his home, and his mother-in-law was the first person to be attacked as she was taking out the garbage. When Ritchie’s wife’s mother came back inside to get away from the bees, they realized that Juana was still outside.

“They wanted to check on my wife’s grandma because she was taking a nap in the yard, and we came out and she was covered in bees,” Ritchie recalled, sharing that they grabbed the raid and poured rubbing alcohol on themselves.

At that moment, Diosdado San Roque, a plumber with Happy Plumbing, and his work partner drove past — and quickly noticed that something was wrong.

San Roque told FOX that their truck soon became covered in bees, and they noticed Juana standing in the street, leaning up against a car for support.

“She spoke to me in Spanish, saying she was about to faint,” San Roque said.

The grandmother then collapsed, and San Roque launched into action, catching her head before it hit the ground. As he tried to drag her away from the bees, the stinging got worse.

“I was just trying to wipe all the bees off of her, but once I started doing that, they came at me,” he said.

Video footage from the truck’s dashcam shows San Roque spraying a fire extinguisher over them in an attempt to get rid of the bees, but he said he was still stung at least 20-30 times.

“I was trying to take the bees my way and get it off the lady, but once I did that, it got into our cabin,” he said.

“The worst thing was just wishing that you could do more to help, especially since my wife’s grandma was just lying in the street helpless and we couldn’t do much,” Ritchie added.

The Santee Fire Department eventually arrived in a helicopter, and used the strong winds to disperse the bees.

Juana was then treated with epinephrine and Benadryl, and taken to a local hospital with a severe reaction, as Ritchie shared that she had “hives all over her body and her throat was closing up.” Medics treated San Roque and Ritchie at the scene.

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According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there are a number of ways to stay safe around bees, including staying away from honey bee colonies, wearing appropriate clothing while spending an extended period of time in the wilderness and avoiding wearing scents like perfume or cologne while spending time outdoors.

If you are ever swarmed by bees, the department recommends that you run away quickly towards an enclosed shelter, not swatting at the bees, removing all stingers from your body once indoors by scraping them with a fingernail, credit card or other dull surface.

As for Ritchie and his family, they are now thanking San Roque for risking his own safety for a stranger.

“I knew that’s somebody’s grandma, and, like, kind of got a flashback of my grandma, and I knew I had to do something about it,” the plumber added.