A semi truck crash near Bozeman brought a different kind of hazard to first responders Monday evening.
A semi hauling thousands of pounds of bees crashed, according to Hyalite Fire crews and the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office.
Hyalite Assistant Fire Chief Brian Nickolay told MTN News there were roughly 40,000 pounds of bees on board.
A truck was headed to North Dakota from California when it flipped at the intersection of Gooch Hill Road and Durston Road – which were closed for some time after the incident.
Nickolay said the situation presented unique challenges to his crew because of the swarms.
“We had to do some stabilization to the truck since it is on its side and it was leaking fuel. We just took the best precautions we could as far as safety for our guys. We went really in our full structure fire gear, including our self-contained breathing apparatus packs so kind of minimize and reduce the risk of being stung at that point to our guys,” said Nickolay.
The Montana Highway Patrol and American Medical Response were also on-scene shortly after the crash. There were no reports of injuries.
A local apiarist said 40,000 pounds of bees is roughly equal to around 133 million bees.
-Reported by Cody Boyer/MTN News
