MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - Tiny, red and vicious fire ants are starting to pop up all across the region. Kids and pets are especially vulnerable because they may not know what they're walking into.

The red imported fire ant, as the name indicates, is not an ant species native to these parts. Hailing from South America, they first arrived, it is thought, in Mobile, Alabama, via ship in the 1930s.