Off-duty firefighter rescues man from huge swarm of bees in car

This firefighter is the bee’s knees.

A New Mexico resident’s trip to the grocery store turned into the stuff of nightmares when a swarm of 15,000 bees took over the back seat of his car. Luckily, an off-duty firefighter who practices beekeeping came to the rescue.

On Sunday, March 28, a Las Cruces shopper left their car windows down while heading into a grocery store. When they returned and began to drive away, they realized thousands of bees had invaded their vehicle, according to a Facebook post from the Las Cruces Fire Department.

Thankfully, firefighter Jesse Johnson works as a beekeeper in his spare time. Though he wasn’t working that day, the team called him in for his expert help. Johnson arrived at Albertsons grocery store in a full safety getup with a hive kit and lemongrass oil. It took two hours for the hive master to get all the insects from the car. The bees were then relocated to Johnson’s home.

In photos posted by the fire department, the clump of bees looked extremely frightening. While they flew around, Johnson appeared unfazed as he calmly collected them.

Only one person, a store security guard, was stung.

It’s unclear what drove the bees to take over the patron’s car or where they came from.