I’m sure that those who say that matches aren’t necessary, that the fumes left to themselves are better at accomplishing the deadly mission, are correct, but it is an added bit of safety to have a flame or two, as I noted last year.
Swarming above the hole in their hundreds during the day, when the sun is shining, any number could simultaneously enter or exit the largest entrance I’ve ever seen for these flying beasts.
A fitting end for those who attempted to take the life of the neighbor last year. This nest was right next to his house, just down from Holy Souls Mountain.
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
Bumblebees? Good work.
Father, are those yellow jackets? I was stung on the foot about a month ago by one and I can tell you now, that pain is worse than childbirth. I am serious. Anyway, let me tell you how to kill them instantly; they drop dead in about ten seconds and you don’t have to worry about a fire that may spread.
Get a container and fill with water and then pour a bunch of dish washing liquid into the water…make it kind of thick. Swirl it around to make bubbles and throw it on the pests. I keep a 52 oz container on my front deck and when one lands, or three land, I throw the soapy water on them and they are gone. Wasps and jackets breathe from under the wing area and the soap instantly smothers them.
Maybe try this the next time you find a hole or just see one sitting somewhere. I promise you it works.
Denise
Yellowjackets, yes.
Note: soapy water makes one or two upset. Try that around the nest and you’ll surely die. A mature nest at the end of the season can have up to 1,200,000 million of the critters. And they all get very angry very quickly, exponentially more than all other types of bees and wasps and hornets put together. Never get near them during the day. Nor just after dusk. Wait until early morning, before light, that is, way before any glimmer of dawn, when it is coldest, and then do something with all the entrances to their nest. If they’ve killed and eaten a gopher, for example, they might might three or four entrances to an underground nest. Yikes!
Woah, I don’t have them that bad! At least I don’t think I do. Wow! I have killed three or four at once. Yesterday I was threatened by two of them and had to run inside but ended up ending them. Thanks for the advice, Father.
I have had yellow jackets too and I got rid of mine by pouring a pint or so of gasoline down the holes. You’re right they usually have more than one entrance. Got to be careful but the gasoline took care the little monsters.