FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Danger was dangling on Thursday above the heads of people living in one South Florida neighborhood.
A beehive was removed Thursday afternoon by a professional beekeeper, and officials said tests would be run to determine whether the bees are the feared Africanized killer bees beginning to show up in areas of South Florida.
Broward Sheriff's Office Fire Rescue showed NBC 6 reporter Tom Llamas the last thing countless bees across Broward County would see and feel when crews are called to a scene -- heavy foam.
BSO Fire Rescue has been training its firefighters to respond and eliminate aggressive bees with the foam.
Battalion Chief Dwayne Diggers recently completed an Africanized bee seminar offered by the University of Florida in Gainesville, and now he's developed the training program for his department.
"We provide the rescue for anyone who feels threatened or has actually been stung," Diggers said. "Because they are so aggressive (Africanized bees), we wanted to be proactive to the situation and get a handle on it before it became a real problem for us."
Diggers said bee populations across the state are growing bigger every year.
In Tamarac, residents of one neighborhood watched for months as a small honeycomb ballooned into a monstrous hive, neighbors said.
"I'm scared for my son... it's crazy," resident Kimone Lewis said.
Roofer Dave Waldon took photos as the hive grew and molded into the tree, and he took the photos to city officials.
"A couple of weeks ago, I gave one of the city officials one of my pictures so that the city would come out and take care of this problem," Waldon said.
Thursday, removal expert Willie the Bee Man suited up and attacked the hive from the ground up.
"I would say that this beehive had only around 10,000 bees in it," Willie said.
A number like that may alarm residents, but Willie showed the larva for the new queen and explained that the bees, along with their hive, were getting ready to relocate.
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