New Mexico firefighter uses beekeeping hobby to save man from swarm in car park

An off-duty firefighter has used his quirky hobby to save a man from a 15,000 strong swarm of bees that took over his car in a grocery store car park.

A US man’s trip to the grocery store turned into the stuff of nightmares when a swarm of 15,000 bees took over the back seat of his car.

But as chance would have it, the perfect person to rescue him was just a phone call away.

On March 28, a shopper in Las Cruces, New Mexico left his car windows down while heading into a grocery store. When he returned and began to drive away, he realised thousands of bees had invaded the vehicle, according to a Facebook post from the Las Cruces Fire Department.

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The bees had taken up residence in the man’s car.

Luckily firefighter and beekeeper Jesse Johnson came in on his day off to tackle the problem.

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Thankfully, firefighter Jesse Johnson works as a beekeeper in his spare time. Although he wasn’t rostered on that day, the team called him in for his expert help. Johnson arrived at Albertsons grocery store in a full beekeeping safety gear with a hive kit and lemongrass oil. It took two hours for the hive master to get all the insects from the car. The bees were then relocated to Johnson’s home.

In photos posted by the fire department, Mr Johnson appeared unfazed as he calmly collected the huge swarm.

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Mr Johnson’s hive kit came in handy when removing the swarm.

Only one person, a store security guard, was stung.

It’s unclear what drove the bees to take over the man’s car or where they came from.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission