On the morning of the wildfire, wind gusts were so strong in Somis that some of the sturdy wooden boxes housing Eduardo Flores’ bee colony had already been blown away.
Flores was watching security camera footage from his home as he prepared to leave in his truck when he received a message from his brother-in-law saying there was a fire near the bee farm.
Within an hour, all 150 boxes were destroyed by fire, killing millions of bees.
“All we could do was watch,” said the company, which removes nuisance bees from people’s homes, restores colonies, and relocates pollinators to maintain local bee populations. said Flores, owner of Ventura Bee Rescue.
Ventura Bee Rescue’s main apiary in Somis was seen before it was destroyed by wildfire.
(Ventura Bee Rescue)
Each box at the Somis apiary contained one hive containing 40,000 to 80,000 bees, including one queen. This represents almost half of his total business.
“The loss was very sudden and happened very quickly, especially because it was so close to where the fire started,” Flores said. He still wonders if he could have done something to save the insects. “When we try to explain this to people, we say we tried, but there was just no way.”
The devastating wildfire is now approximately 82% contained and has destroyed more than 240 buildings across 20,630 acres. A further 125 structures were damaged.
Western honey bees, western honey bees and western honeybees from Flores Island stayed at the Somis farm during the winter, feeding on nearby pepper plants and eucalyptus to welcome spring. The 150 hives that burned represent more than half of the company’s colony, and each hive is worth $400 to $500 in equipment alone. Flores estimates the total damage caused by the fire is more than $35,000. “This reflects several years’ worth of work, so it sets us back.”
Flores is a former software engineer who used to study bees as a hobby. He and his wife, a biochemist, developed a passion for bees and decided to start a business by taking rescued hives to local small farms to help pollinate crops and sell raw honey locally. I decided. “The more I learn about bees, the more I appreciate them,” he says.
Eduardo Flores, owner of Ventura Bee Rescue, talks about bees at the EP Foster Library in Ventura.
(Ventura Bee Rescue
)
Bees play an important role in pollinating native plants and crops, but their numbers are declining around the world. Since 2007, some bee populations have declined by more than 80%, according to research by the U.S. Forest Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Flores quickly became an advocate for bees, visiting local schools, libraries and museums to educate children about the importance of bees and share her love for these often feared creatures. Every spring, he brings a plain white box to an event in Ventura called Pollinatorpalooza, where children paint the box in bright colors.
Flores said he plans to rebuild the lost boxes and restore the colony as soon as possible. “They don’t stop, and neither do we.”
Flores has started a GoFundMe account and has already raised more than $5,000 to purchase new equipment.
But replacing the Somis apiary’s unique features will be much more difficult, he said.
“I saw some color there, and that’s something I’ll miss,” he said, recalling the boxes covered in rainbow-colored children’s drawings and messages.
“Just watching everything go up in flames was really heartbreaking. Until the camera broke.”
