What Are Fire Ants?

Fire ants are small, reddish-brown ants known for their aggressive behavior and painful, burning sting. The red imported fire ant is common across the Carolinas and builds dome-shaped mounds in lawns, pastures, and open sunny areas. A single mound can hold hundreds of thousands of ants.

What sets fire ants apart is how they react to a threat. When their mound is disturbed, they swarm out quickly and sting in numbers, often several times each. They grip the skin with their jaws and inject venom that leaves a raised, itchy welt that can blister.

Fire ants spread fast. New colonies form through swarms and by budding off from established mounds, so an untreated yard can go from one mound to many in a single season.