Bumblebees Plus – Your Stories

How a bumblebee joined the fire department

Jaroslav Kraus 13.8.2020

One sunny spring day, a bumblebee crept into my bathroom through the skylight. I said to myself; I'll let the poor thing go, he must have wandered off. I offered him an open window and freedom, but he didn't! He said he'd rather come inside.

Then I remembered the scare, which was actually uninhabited. The matter received a rapid sequence of actions. I captured Brundibár with the utmost care in a shoe box so that the transport to the bumblebee would be smooth.

By bumblebee, I mean the fire station area. After the accelerated movement of the box with the bumblebee inside to the hive, the standard movement took place using a trapping net and a loader. The bumblebee was so startled that it almost ran into it. Well, after a moment of tension, the bumblebee performed an orientation flight and frrrr away.
I said to myself: great, the first phase is finished and went home with a pleasant, but also excited feeling, thinking about what would happen next.

When I got home, I realized that I had a bumblebee in my hive, but I didn't know what kind, so for the next few days I sat by the bumblebee for a long time, my phone ready to capture this beautiful creature and determine what it was.

Although it was no secret among my colleagues that I had a bumblebee at work, no one was particularly interested in it and in fact there were even those who didn't know at all. Everything in the bumblebee worked as it should. I just went more and more often in my free time to check the flap and especially the movement on it. Which started to be suspicious where I kept going and actually several times a day. 

Well, the world was enlightened! So I explained several times about the cycle of life of bumblebees and what it's really like. 

I will remember the moment when the first workers appeared on the flap for a long time. One immediately ran out and then another one with its moustache went home, the bigger one the smaller one. Again I said to myself, the next phase is successful, great. 

As time went by, the flight traffic became stronger and stronger, and on the website www.cmelaciplus.cz, articles began to appear warning of the dangers of bumblebees' enemies. And then one becomes so uncertain.... At that time, my colleagues already knew where I was going and why, and they would not forgive me for occasionally making jokes about bumblebees. 

I probably don't need to elaborate further on the day the hatch opened and a new mother appeared. 

Well, it's August, there have been several fires since April, countless vehicles have been wrecked, and the inevitable phase of bumblebee life is taking place in the nest. Bumblebees are disappearing and weakening. …

Hopefully they enjoyed their service with the fire department and will come back for an internship next year.

About Jard:

• Jarda lives in Vysolkoé Mýto and is a licensed firefighter engineer
• He started breeding bumblebees in 2020 
• As he himself writes, he also helps with education about bumblebees and spreads the word about the Bumblebee Rapid Company in the Fire Department