Wasps invade Huntington Beach home

Kenneth Ma

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- What Melanie Petersen thought was a minor

inconvenience while she was cooking dinner Sunday afternoon turned out to

be a deadly nest of 15,000 adult paper wasps and their eggs hovering

above her home.

Petersen, her husband, Mark, four of their children and two guests

were preparing for dinner in the Jardines Drive home when up to 30 wasps

appeared out of a small hole in the living room ceiling.

“It was just kind of creepy that they could be in the roof so long,”

Petersen said.Krin Petersen, 7, said he soon saw the insects everywhere.

“They were all over the window, and they just kept coming out,” he

said.

Before the ordeal ended, the Bee Emergency Response Team, a private

company that serves Southern California, exterminated the hive. Sam

Bonderov, the company’s executive vice president, said the hive’s

extermination was critical because the wasps carry lethal venom in their

sting that is potentially fatal.

Bonderov said the city has experienced a plethora of incidents

involving bee and wasp infestation over the summer. Because of the many

calls in Surf City, Bonderov said the company had to set up a branch

office in the area.

However, Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff said the Petersen case is an

isolated incident and that there isn’t a large problem with bee and wasp

infestation in Huntington Beach.

“To residents who have allergic reactions to bee stings, this is an

important issue,” she said.

For the Petersen family, the insects wreaked havoc on them before the

exterminators arrived.

Petersen said her first response was to seal the ceiling crack with

tape while her husband went to the store to buy insect spray. The paper

wasps, however, quickly chewed through it.

She then tried to contain the insects by using cardboard to seal off

the crack. This resulted in her daughter, Tanya, getting stung three

times on the arm and her friend, Tammy Thompson, getting stung on her

face.

Meanwhile, up to 50 wasps flew into the living room, she said.

After two failed attempts, the family finally called 911 to report the unruly insects. The city’s emergency authorities called the Bee Emergency

Response Team.

The family and guests waited in the frontyard until the wasp

exterminators arrived.

Bonderov said he found a hive of 15,000 adult wasps and their eggs

when he arrived on the scene. Using a specialized pesticide, he removed

the nest, which is described as the size of a half-gallon bucket.

“It was fortunate that [the incident] happened when it did because

there would have been many more wasps in,” the house, he said.

Based on the amount of damage to the ceiling, which was on the brink

of caving in, and the size of the hive, Bonderov said the hive may have

been there for up to four months.

He said the wasps entered the ceiling through an exterior crack and

ventilation shaft in front of the house.

Bonderov said wasp stings can cause paralysis, headaches, redness,

blotching, itchiness and even death in some cases, depending on the

individual.

But for Tanya, 15, the stings were not serious, and the pain

dissipated after about a half-hour. Tammy suffered swelling on her face.

No one who was stung in the incident sought medical attention.

Despite going through the stressful ordeal, Petersen said she was just

glad to have the situation resolved, and that the wasps and the

pesticides did not ruin dinner.

The family will have to dish out $275 for the exterminator, while

damage to the ceiling is still being determined.