Church concerned for children's safety has bees removed

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- A routine insurance inspection at a South Florida church uncovered quite a concern after bees were discovered inside a wall near where children play.

Officials discovered thousands of bees had set up shop behind a wall inside a structure on the grounds of Grace Church of Kendall. Church officials said their main concern was for the children. "The children, the playground. I was terrified because we have Sunday service, and the first thing that went through my mind was, uh-oh, one of those kids run out of the playground and get near the bees, they're going to get stung," said Ileana Pichel.

Bug Busters arrived on the scene to treat the problem Friday afternoon, and luckily they discovered honey bees and not Africanized bees. "That's why it was an emergency to get here and take care of this. There is no time to relocate them. There's no time to do anything of that nature. The priority is the children's safety," Dominic Andracchio said.

Fortunately, after a few sprays of pesticide, the bees were taken care of. Those who worked at the church said they felt much safer. "Relieved, very relieved, fortunately. I'm glad it's out of the way," said Pichel.

Pastor Steve Alessi said they will look into how to prevent this situation from happening in the future. "Let's figure out how they got there to begin with without us knowing, and hopefully we don't have to worry about it happening again," Alessi said.

According to Bug Busters, they said they took a look behind the adjacent wall panels, and the beehive and the bees had not spread.

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