Bees can fly, but that doesn’t mean they don’t sometimes need a ride. In fact, massive colonies of bees and their beehives are often shipped around the country by truck to help pollinate crops. They’re a crucial cog in our food supply chain, and these commutes are critically important. The rides, however, don’t come without their risks. Truck carrying 480 beehives breaks down and begins to overheat One such shipment was on its way through Utah, navigating a mountain pass near Salt Lake City, when the truck carrying hundreds of hives broke down. The weather was hot, and without a running engine or airflow from the movement of the vehicle, the inside of the trailer was rapidly heating up. Twenty-five million bees—tens of thousands per hive—were inside and were minutes away from dying. A mechanic arrived to work on the truck, but there was no telling how long it would take to get things moving again. Luckily, the Millcreek Fire Department and the Unified Fire Authority also happened to arrive. While they weren’t going to be much help getting the engine going again, they had a brilliant idea to help keep the bees safe in the meantime. Firefighters drench the trailer with hoses to keep the bees inside cool Quick-thinking fire authorities used their equipment to mist and spray the truck, keeping it cool in the hot sun. One neat cooperative detail: no firefighters were stung during the operation. In the photos and footage provided by Unified Fire Authority, bees are clearly seen flying around outside the trailer. That’s because the breathable mesh keeps the hives and most of the colony inside, but the bees need airflow while the truck is moving, so many of them slip in and out during the journey. In the end, the truck got moving again, and not a single bee—nor firefighter—was harmed. Heartwarming story was almost a devastating loss Pesticides and habitat loss have wreaked havoc on wild bee populations. Fair Planet notes that about 80% of flowering plants, including many fruits and vegetables, depend on pollinators like bees to reproduce. So while bees can sometimes be viewed as a nuisance or pest by humans, their presence is critical to the natural world around us—and our food supply. Managed honeybee populations are doing better than wild ones, but the death of 25 million bees would still have been a significant loss. Not only would it represent a six-figure cost and be tragic in its own right, it would put the crops they were on their way to pollinate at risk. Kudos to the quick thinking of the Unified Fire Authority and the Millcreek Fire Department, and to their willingness to help, even in unusual ways. The post Firefighters broke out their hoses to save 25 million bees from an overheating truck appeared first on Upworthy.