[mitchgobears]

Yesterday afternoon, while my family was away, there was a fire adjacent to my bees. The bees do not seem to be adversely affected and the hives did not burn. My neighbor noticed it and put it out with his fire extinguisher before the fire department arrived to finish the job. The cause of the fire is unknown. Although I am grateful for my neighbor and his efforts, do I need to be concerned about the use of a chemical fire extinguisher? In my mind it is better to stop the fire by any means than worry about chemical exposure to my bees. I'm just curious if the chemicals could harm them. It was your basic home chemical extinguisher.

 

[Chemguy]

Sorry to hear about the fire, but I am glad that there seems to not have been any significant damage or injury.

A lot of the dry chemical extinguishers of the ABC type use ammonium phosphate. This shouldn't pose a problem for the bees, but if you are concerned I would hose down the area thoroughly. The extinguisher contents do vary, depending on the class of extinguisher (ABC, AB, BC etc), so a knowledge of the label on the extinguisher that was used could help me to know if I am answering your question.

On the plus side, the lawn in that area now has a good dose of nitrogen and phosphorous.

 

[Pete O]

Could your smoker have been the cause? Think about it; a smoker can stay hot an smolder for many, many hours. All you can really do here is hose it down; the bees won't be searching though ashes and char for their nectar and pollen. It's probably nothing to worry about.

 

[mitchgobears]

I actually thought it could be my smoker, but my smoker wasn't there and hadn't been there. It's been hosed down extra- thoroughly. Unfortunately, that part of my property is adjacent to the one neighbor who is not happy that I have started beekeeping. I don't want to think that they could be responsible but it isn't ruled out. In Utah, fireworks are legal during our state holiday coming up as well.

 

[Mr.Beeman]

Huh..... one neighbor doesn't like the bees and it started while everyone was gone. Unknown origin huh?
I'm guessing that the neighbor in question didn't come out to see what all the comotion was about?

Your bees will be fine but you may want to move them towards the other neighbor's house if possible.

 

[Moonflower]

A bit off topic but..we have a fire pit about 20' from 2 hives that we use on occasion during the summer..will this have any overall significant adverse effect on the hives? Newbie to the max here..feel like I have forgotten the little I have learned & am truly winging it..Thank you

 

[bbruff22]

Huh..... one neighbor doesn't like the bees and it started while everyone was gone. Unknown origin huh?
I'm guessing that the neighbor in question didn't come out to see what all the comotion was about?

Your bees will be fine but you may want to move them towards the other neighbor's house if possible.

Ditto! I'm sure sorry to hear about this but glad no one was hurt. You might consider a small security camera of some sort to monitor this area, or a dummy camera, as well as let your neighbors know you've got a camera on this area.

 

[Mr.Beeman]

Moonflower,
I have a neighbor that has a woodburner to heat his home and he burns the brush when it gets too tall.
The first few months, I could not keep bees in the hives and could not figure out why. One day I noticed the neighbor started to burn his brush pile and the smoke was so thick to the point I could not see the hives. About 20 minutes later, one of my hives absconded in front of my eyes.
I moved the hives and haven't lost one since. Simply smoking a hive has a small adverse effect.