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NOGALES - A man dies after being attacked by a swarm of bees, and for the firefighters trying to save him, it went from rescue mode to survival mode pretty fast.

The Nogales Fire department said the 78-year-old man was stung hundreds to thousands of times.

"I was standing over here," said Gary Mcjunkin, who owns Mcjunkin Truck Sales, the business next to the scene of the accident. "One stung me right in the forehead and then on the arm, and then we could hear the guy yelling up there."

"The bees started to swarm around everybody...around the trucks," said Nogales Fire Department Fernando Urias.

Firefighters said 78-year-old Ramon Rascon Figueroa of Nogales was moving a tire at his own business next to Mcjunkin Truck Sales on the 32 hundred block of Silver Hills Drive, Wednesday, when a swarm of bees came out of the tire.

"They didn't give any warning they just came in and stung us," said Mcjunkin.

Several people in the area were stung including four firefighters, two of which had to be rushed to the hospital along with Figueroa.

Urias said it was an unexpected emergency for all involved.

"Five minutes of being on scene to chaos," said Urias.

Figueroa was pronounced dead shortly after arriving to the hospital.

"He got stung in the facial area, neck area, chest area, both arms, abdominal areas," said Gerry Castro, the fire department's division chief.

And although for Figueroa, it was too late by the time he saw the bees, firefighters offer this advice if you spot them from far away: Stay as far away as possible and call 9-1-1 immediately.