Bee Removal by Blue Sky’s Matt Hilton Allows Diamondbacks-Dodgers Game to Commence

***Article updated on 5/6, at 2 p.m., with a clarification on how the bees were treated.***

PHOENIX, Ariz. – When Matt Hilton, manager of Blue Sky Pest Control’s Phoenix office, received a service call yesterday at 6:45 p.m., just as he was arriving at his son’s T-ball game, he knew he was in for an interesting night. 

The call was to remove Africanized honeybees swarming atop netting behind home plate at Chase Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. The swarm had delayed the start (scheduled for 6:40 p.m.) of the Diamondbacks-Dodgers April 30 game.

After it was determined Hilton would do the removal, he jumped on a call with a Diamondbacks official. “I started asking questions like ‘Where is the hive located? How high up is it?’ Anything I could do to be prepared before I arrived,” Hilton told PCT.

Fortunately for Hilton, the Diamondbacks had a lift, as well as fall protection, on site. “I told them to clear about 50 or 75 feet behind the net, just make sure there weren't people nearby when I was doing the treatment,” he said.

Hilton decided vacuuming was the best treatment option, with minimal use of a liquid solution to “lock the bees on the outside and prevent them from swarming.” He also didn’t want to start with just vacuuming, which could have disturbed the entire colony.

Africanized honeybees are a major problem in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Hilton said he has done his fair share of jobs during his 15 years at Blue Sky, “but you never entirely know how a bee treatment is going to go, especially this one, with so many eyes on me. Luckily, the treatment couldn't have gone better. I'm super glad that I used the vacuum and it went really well. But yeah, it was nerve-wracking.”

In terms of follow-up work, Hilton said Blue Sky sent two technicians to the stadium today to scrape any leftover wax off the nets. He said, ”When they start swarming, a lot of times they'll start building some of the honeycomb and just a few remnants of wax can have bee pheromones in it that could attract an additional swarm to the exact same spot.”

Hilton has become somewhat of a celebrity in the Phoenix area, being interviewed by TV stations and even getting a chance to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the game. “That was also nerve-wracking, but extremely cool — I’m not going to lie,” he said. “I was really nervous because I'm not a baseball player, and I definitely didn’t throw a strike, that's for sure.”

Reflecting on the experience, Hilton said, “I was grateful to represent our company and our industry in a good, professional manner.”