Brussels Fire Service reports a big increase in the number of callouts to deal with wasps’ nests
As many of us with no doubt have noticed there are many more wasps in Brussels and elsewhere in the country this summer than in previous years. So far this year the Brussels Fire Service has received no fewer than 218 callouts to deal with wasps’ nests. Last year the capital’s firefighters were called out just 100 times to deal with wasps.
Outside Brussels too, the Fire Service has seen the number of callouts to deal with wasps’ nest increase. For example, in Limburg Province the Fire Service has destroyed 8,200 wasps’ nests so far this year. Meanwhile, in Amsterdam local media report that there are five times the number of wasps this year than there were in 2021.
The Brussels Fire Service spokesman Walter Derieuw told journalists that in 2020 there were 220 interventions to deal with wasps’ nests during the whole year. Last year there were just 100. So far this year there have been 218. The increase in the number of wasps is due to the warm weather.
“Due to the mild winter more queen wasps survived to build new nests. I would like to stress that wasps are useful insects and that it is not necessary to exterminate them if they don’t pose a danger or aren’t causing a nuisance”, Mr Derieuw told the Brussels regional news platform Bruzz.
The Asian hornet has been present in Brussels since 2019. The Asian hornet poses a threat to our indigenous bee population. Such is the concern about the presence of the Asian hornet that it was the subject of a parliamentary question last month.
“There were a few primary exterminations of Asian hornet nests earlier this year, but there will be more exterminations after the summer once the secondary nests become visible in trees and other high places”.
