I've lived in Florida all my life and have been stung by fire ants a few times. Fire ants are strange creatures. They both bite and sting. Only the queens sting, but there can be as many as 200 or more queens in a mound. A person can sometimes get stung by one [irritating, unpleasant] but often fire ants will crawl onto a person in large numbers, then sting in mass, sending a chemical signal or something - one, then 7 or 8, then all of them. 25 or 30 of them will light you up. It's hot, electrical almost, and can send your heart racing. The effected area is feverish, swollen, itches, feels like it will burst out of the skin. Some people can go into shock from it, similar to a wasp sting reaction.