A Careful Plan for the Arrival of Killer Bees : Entomology: Officials stress respect for the pest. Traps have been set to alert officials when the bees get here, probably by winter.

SANTA ANA — The traps are set. County crews are in training. And schoolchildren are being prepped about the new pest headed this way.

It’s all part of Orange County’s battle plan against so-called killer bees. County officials prefer to call them “Africanized honeybees” and say the best defense against these notorious bees--expected to arrive in California any day now--is a strong public education campaign.

“It’s like rattlesnakes and black widow spiders,” said Steve Hill, with the county’s Agricultural Commission office. “We’ve learned to respect them and to keep our distance. We’ll do the same thing with the Africanized bee.”

Local agricultural and vector control workers aren’t taking any chances, and on Tuesday their strategy to cope with the bees goes before the Orange County Board of Supervisors for review.

“It’s something we all need to learn to live with,” Hill said. “We can do that just by becoming educated on the bee, learning how to bee-proof our homes, and being aware when we’re out.”

By some estimates, the long-dreaded bees could arrive in Orange County by next winter, and about 20 traps have been set throughout the county to alert officials when they arrive. These bees have been spreading fear since they were accidentally released from a breeding experiment in Brazil in 1957, and already have established themselves in Texas and Arizona. They arrived in New Mexico in October.

The county’s 27-page proposed plan--which outlines roles for various county agencies in dealing with the bees--caps about two years of preparation and work, similar to efforts throughout Southern California. The plan also anticipates that private pest-control companies would respond to non-emergency requests to control bee colonies.

While the bees pose safety concerns and can be expected to survive easily in urban areas where there is lush vegetation, officials say there’s no reason to panic.

“We don’t want to make people hysterical,” said Fred Beams, assistant manager of the Orange County Vector Control Agency, which already fields many questions about bees in general. “It’s not going to be something like huge clouds of bees coming from the sky destroying towns. That’s not going to happen. But there are going to be some people affected by it.”

Because the bees do not go out looking for trouble, most people will never confront them, experts say. But what makes the Africanized honeybee more dangerous than the common European honeybee is that they will vigorously defend their hives.

“They swarm more often, for a longer period of the year and, typically, a hive of Africanized honeybees can inflict 10 times as many stings on an individual than its European relatives,” according to the county plan.

Both honeybees possess virtually the same venom and can only sting once, but Africanized bees are much more likely to swarm and attack if their colonies are disturbed.

“This type of bee behavior can affect the lifestyles of Orange County residents, schoolchildren, the tourism industry and the business community,” the report concludes.

The bees have been blamed for more than 300 deaths in Venezuela and dozens of fatalities in other South and Central American countries. One death in Texas has been attributed to the bees.

But where public education has been the greatest, the numbers of death and injuries have been the lowest, the county report stresses.

Under the county plan, several agencies will be most involved in dealing with the bees: the county Health Care Agency, Fire Department, Emergency Management Division, Department of Education, Vector Control District and Environmental Management Agency.

The main goals of the plan include expanding educational programs for schools and groups involved with students; educating health service providers who will assist people who get stung; coordinating public information campaigns, including a telephone hot line; training police officers, firefighters and other rescue personnel; monitoring the spread of the bees; and educating beekeepers on revised beekeeping practices.

“Through education and information, people can really learn to live with the bees,” Hill said. “In fact, we’re going to have to do that.”