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Dealing with hornet hives firefighters’ way
When people think about firefighters, they immediately picture men in orange uniforms putting out fires
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When people think about firefighters, they immediately picture men in orange uniforms putting out fires.
However, many also turn to them for animal rescues, medical emergencies and wild-animal control: from a snake slithering on dirt or hiding in a pipe to a hornets’ nest that needs removal from one’s house.
For the firefighter and rescue team in East Jakarta, hornet control is a part of their daily tasks.
“I got stung so many times, I might become The Wasp,” said Suradi, an East Jakarta rescue team member referring to a fictional American superhero.
He recalled being stung eight times by hornets last year, which resulted in fever and swollen skin. However, he considered himself to be lucky because some of his friends needed to be hospitalized for days.
In 2018, he helped a resident in Halim Perdanakusuma, East Jakarta to dispose of hornets that had nested in a parabolic antenna.
“We had to close all hive openings with gasoline-drenched cotton balls,” he said explaining the method to get the hornets immobile. Suradi then had to remove the one-meter-wide nest, while two other men sprayed the hornets that were outside with insect repellent.
He said there were no special tools for handling hornets. Common utensils used are sacks to contain the hive and cutting tools like machetes.
“I was scared too,” he said, stating that the sack he used in 2018 to contain the hive was too small, resulting in a swarm of hornets flying around. “But people trust us so we have to be brave.” The Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency recorded 327 hornet nest removals from January to June, an increase from the 195 cases reported in the same period last year.
Out of the 327 cases, 129 of them were in East Jakarta, the highest of all the mayoralties, said the head of East Jakarta Fire and Rescue Agency, Gatot Sulaiman.
“Almost 90 percent of the hornets handled were Ndas hornets,” said Gatot referring to the popular local name of the Vespa affinis species.
The Vespa affinis hornet has a venomous sting, which can trigger an allergic reaction. The sting should be treated within 24 hours to avoid swelling.
Gatot said his agency did not have enough special suits for handling insects as they only have six, which have to be used across 10 districts in the area and shared between 250 personnel.
The suits, however, were made for beekeepers, so they were not suitable for hornets since they have bigger stingers than bees.
“We are in the process of procuring suits,” said Gatot recently.
The lack of protective suits had forced the rescue team to improvise when dealing with hornets such as by wearing motorcycle helmets and using duct tape to tighten loose clothing, according to Suradi.
“We tried using the beekeeper suit, but the hornets were still able to get in,” he said.
Other methods the firefighters used were wearing biohazard suits and rubber gloves that are usually worn when handling toxic waste. The reason was that rubber is a better material to prevent hornet stings.
“We had training for handling wild animals, especially reptiles,” said Suradi. “However, we never had formal training to tackle insect problems.” He added that the team learned about removing hornets from experience.
Therefore, they did not encourage people to dispose of hornet nests themselves as they might get stung and have a lethal allergic reaction. Additionally, if the disposal of hives were not thorough, they could come back and build a nest in the same area.
The fire and rescue agency advised people to immediately call 112 to report bee or hornet hives and to go immediately to the hospital if stung.
Suradi said he was glad that many people referred to the officials for hornet nest removals. However, he expressed concern that removing a hornet nest could have a negative environmental impact.
According to an entomologist from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Hari Nugroho, hornets have an important function in the environment as pollinators. They also act as nature’s pest control as they feed on the larvae of pest bugs.
Hari suggested that nests that are far away from a residential area be left alone. Local authorities could put up a sign stating that a hornet nest is nearby so people could be cautious.
“People would also need to keep their environment clean,” he said, adding that hornets also eat rotten food and dirty areas tend to attract the insect. (eyc)
