We’re just trying to cool people down and trying to let them know that there are cooling spots that the city has opened. “Every day, we’re handing out waters and we have rags that we keep in the ice chests on the firetruck. “When it’s super hot already, like 118 degrees, you put your gear on and, within five minutes, you’re completely drenched. When it’s 118 degrees, that pavement could be 160 degrees. Well, if that happens in 118 degrees, and if no one helps that person until we get there, they’re going to have second-degree burns. Maybe it’s someone driving past and they see somebody lying on the street. “We often get 911 calls about a person down or for a welfare check. To not have some kind of relief was a game changer. “We’re all used to summer heat, but we used to get relief from the heat at night. A lot of people here do have swimming pools, but even the swimming pools are like Jacuzzis.
“I think everybody, for the most part, is trying to stay indoors as much as possible. We have a shower trailer and a lot of people expressed that even when they turn on the cold water, it’s still pretty warm. With it being so hot outside, one of our challenges was that even if we were to turn on the cold water, it was still pretty warm. “In the past, our respite and heat relief center was not open on weekends, but because of the excessive heat we’ve actually been staying open Saturday and Sunday, as well.
It burned my fingers and the feeling lingered for a while. The other day, I moved my sun visor in my car out of the way and it kind of burned my hands. A perfect example is getting into your car.
“Little things that you do on a daily basis now seem like they’re more taxing because of the heat. “Normally if you look at the forecast, you kind of have an idea of when the numbers will start to go down and you’re like, ‘OK, it’s not going to be as bad in a couple of days.’ But to see the numbers so high like that for weeks on end, it’s almost like there’s no hope. Growing up in Arizona, the heat never really bothered me, but my first week back, it actually kicked my butt a little bit. “I’m actually an Arizona native, but I recently moved back here, and to be quite honest, I never remember it ever being like this before. Stephanie Philpot, officer with the Salvation Army in Chandler, Arizona That’s something that is kind of forgotten a lot of times.” And then obviously there are no facilities.
#Austin weather august portable#
The portable restrooms that we have access to - they are 15 to 20 degrees hotter than it is outside. “Another thing that people don’t realize is that as construction workers, we don’t have running water. They’ll be confused or they’ll just be kind of staring, and you can tell that it’s definitely heat stress setting in and we have to immediately have that person stop, get in shade, get some water. I’ve seen people I work with when this starts to set in. And then you’ll start to feel kind of dizzy or lightheaded or you’ll get confused. “When it’s bad, I noticed that I’ll stop sweating.
I’m going through like 60 pounds of ice in a day, just to keep water iced down at all times near the men. I have pop-up canopies that provide shade. “I’m the foreman, so I get to take care of my guys. And a majority of it is outside and it does feel like this summer and a little bit of last summer have been extra hot. I’m 37 now and have been doing electrical work since I was 19. David Broyles, union electrician with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 520 in Austin, Texas
0 kommentar(er)
