Family describes bee attack in Surprise that left 10 people stung

 Two young boys in Surprise are sharing their stories after being attacked by a swarm of bees!

The bee attack happened on Monday night near 175th Avenue and Greenway Road, just west of the Loop 303.

Firefighters were called out to the neighborhood after 10 people were attacked, one of whom needed to be sent to the hospital.

Neighbors captured video of the moment firefighters carried young kids into their fire engine to get them away from all of the bees.

Five kids and four firefighters were attacked, and one adult man was attacked and had to be hospitalized, fire officials said.

Darren, 11, and his brother Brady, 8, were riding their scooters Monday evening in their surprise neighborhood when they got caught in a swarm of bees that began attacking them.

“Come to find out this guy got 11 stings; this guy got 14,” their father, Ryan Mitchell, said. “He has one near his eye.”

They weren’t alone. Surprise Fire says a man was out checking his mail when he came across a beehive. The bees became aggressive and stung him, likely more than 50 times.

Neighbors called 911 as they sprayed him down with water. The man had a bee allergy and was rushed to the hospital.

“There was a water irrigation box directly across the street where the hive itself was. That swarm came out and chased him across the greenbelt,” said Surprise Fire-Medical Capt. Philip Martell.

As fire crews got there, they saw a group of young kids in the area also getting stung.

In a viewer video shared with Arizona’s Family, firefighters can be seen placing the kids inside the fire engine to protect them from the bees. In the process, four freighters were stung.

Mitchell, who was at home, got an alarming phone call.

“It was my oldest on the phone saying ‘hey dad we’re in the fire truck’ and it wasn’t one of the good ‘hey dad we’re in the fire truck.’ It was okay, something is wrong here,” he said.

He ran toward the chaos and got stung himself trying to help his sons.

“It kept going on and on. It felt like you got stabbed by a needle,” Darren said. “It really hurt for an entire 10 minutes.”

“He was pretty sore he skipped school the next day,” Mitchell said.

The two boys say firefighters were comforting them even through the chaos.

“One told us a story about he went camping and he got swarmed by hornets,” Darren said. “He taught us if we ever got stung again how to get them out and he told us everything will be ok.”

The boys are still sore but say they are grateful to everyone who helped them.

“I want to say thank you. Big thank you to firefighters and everyone involved,” they said. “Thank you to the lady that told them to run to the firetruck too, that’s awesome.”

Arizona’s Family spoke with a local pest control company, which said it is rare for bees to be this active in February.

It’s usually around mid-March and April when they start to come out more as temperatures get warmer. But since it’s been a warm February, they are out much earlier than usual.