Insect attack

Wasp alarm in summer

Summertime is wasp time(Bild: H. Bellmann)

Firefighters have to face all kinds of dangers during their operations. Sometimes they also have to deal with stinging insects - which they bring back to nature.

The field of operations for firefighters is broad. Everyone knows that the fire department responds to fires, accidents and floods. But what do you do when a wasp colony builds its nest in the beams of the garden terrace? In this case too, the emergency services are on hand to help homeowners.

Hundreds of deployments
But with restrictions: "We come when there is imminent danger," explains the regional fire brigade association. And that has obviously often been the case this year. The first wasp interventions were already recorded in April. There were 49 this spring, then 73 in May. As soon as the temperatures get warmer, things really get going. The 374 call-outs for the ravenous insects in June were followed by 715 in July. And 2024 is not even a "wasp year" so far - in 2022 and 2020, more than 900 such operations were recorded nationwide in July.

The Florianis use beekeeping equipment for wasp operations(Bild: Feuerwehr)

Special protection
When it comes to tackling a wasp nest, extreme caution is of course required. "That's why the firefighters usually put on a beekeeper's suit," report experienced "wasp hunters" in the ranks of the Florianis. And what happens to a removed wasp nest? "It is taken to a place in the wild where it poses no danger," explains one.