Heat’s on for aid givers as 100-degree days near
Posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/232727/
Temperatures are expected to exceed 100 degrees in much of the state through this week, and agencies prepared Monday by gathering fans, offering health tips and opening cooling shelters.
“The weather has overwhelmed us,” said the Rev. Hezekiah Stewart, who has distributed more than 200 electric fans to elderly people since late last week through his Watershed organization in east Little Rock.
“It’s going to get hotter. It will be chaotic if other churches don’t help.”
The high temperatures have also placed much of the state in a high fire-danger status. As a result, the Arkansas Forestry Commission has activated two single-engine airplanes that can dump 600 gallons of water or retardant on fires.
The commission responded to 37 fires over the weekend, said Mark Reed, the commission’s fire management director.
In Northwest Arkansas, the National Weather Service was forecasting temperatures in the low to mid-90 s this week in Benton, Carroll, Boone, Newton, Madison and Washington counties. Areas farther south, including Crawford, Sebastian, Logan, Franklin and Scott counties, could see temperatures that reach the 100-degree mark.
One-hundred degree weather is normal for Arkansas in late July and August, said Marty Trexler, a senior meteorologist at the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. Last August, Little Rock recorded 12 consecutive days of 100 degrees and above, he said.
However, temperatures are projected to rise slowly during the day this week, putting the peak of the heat at the late afternoon — an unusual twist.
“That means we’ll have the residual heat overnight, and it’ll be easier to have the higher temperatures the next day,” Trexler said.
As of Monday evening, there had been no heat-related deaths in the state, said Ann Wright, a spokesman for the state Health Department.
The sweltering heat, accompanied by 55 percent humidity, is caused by an upper-level highpressure ridge sitting over Oklahoma and Texas, Trexler said.
Arkansans may see a brief respite in triple-digit heat Wednesday and Thursday as the remnants of Hurricane Dolly pass over the northern half of the state. Showers and occasional isolated thunderstorms, along with cloudy skies, could reduce temperatures to the mid-90 s those days, Trexler said.
By Friday, however, the storm system will move out and the heat will return, he said.
“We’re looking for a hot August,” he said.
On Monday, Russellville reported a heat index of 107 degrees, the highest in the state, according to the weather service. Pine Bluff recorded a heat index of 106, North Little Rock registered 105 and Jonesboro had an index of 104.
“Once it gets to 105 degrees, it’s a very dangerous level,” Trexler said.
COOLING ASSISTANCE Agencies across the state prepared for the heat by opening centers that provide an airconditioned place to relax, along with water and food. The Area Agency on Aging of Southeast Arkansas opened centers in Fordyce, Camden and Chidester. “We’re expecting people soon,” said Myrtle Pratt, the agency’s coordinator for the centers. “We’re encouraging everyone to take advantage of them.” The agency has given away more than 200 fans to the elderly this summer in the 10 counties it serves, she said. Stewart, who developed the Watershed organization more than 20 years ago to help low-income families in need, has asked that churches gather fans and air conditioners for the elderly. He also urged residents who are apprehensive about using air conditioners because they cannot afford increased utility bills to use them anyway.
“People need to stay cool and worry about the bill later,” he said. “The leadership across the state needs to consider the needs of the elderly and help. God will work this out.”
The Watershed has two cooling centers — 3701 Springer Blvd. and 5630 Mabelvale Pike in Little Rock.
The state Health Department warned people who work outside to drink fluids and heed symptoms of heat-related illnesses.
“The elderly with cardiac problems are extremely vulnerable,” said James Phillips, a physician with the department. “It’s most dangerous during the first few days of heat before the body can become acclimated.”
He said if people become fatigued and confused from the heat, they should seek cool shelter immediately.
As temperatures have risen, ice sales at Xpress Polar Ice in Cabot have tripled since last week, said Jean Wheetley, an employee at the company that makes and sells seven-, 10- and 20-pound bags of ice.
“We’re seeing a substantial increase with the rising temperatures,” Wheetley said.
At the Little Rock Zoo, employees have prepared animals, too, for the heat’s onslaught.
Workers have frozen food treats in large blocks of ice for tigers, added water and mud for bathing elephants and installed water-misting devices for other animals.
“The heat is definitely a concern,” said Susan Altrui, a zoo spokesman. “We’re giving them more access to indoor quarters with air conditioning.”
She said some animals, such as camels and elephants, are acclimated to the heat and don’t need much extra care. Elephants spray a mixture of mud and water on their backs to cool off.
“It’s a sunscreen for them,” she said.
FIRE DANGER The Arkansas Forestry Commission has activated two Dromader M-18 single-engine airplanes to be used in combating forest and field fires in southern Arkansas after numerous fires have devoured acres of woodland in Calhoun, Hempstead and other southern Arkansas counties, said Reed.
“We’re drying out real bad in the south,” he said.
The airplanes, similar to agricultural crop-dusting aircraft, can dump 600 gallons of water, foam or fire retardants on blazes.
The commission reported five fires Monday that burned 142 acres, including a 100-acre fire in Calhoun County. Fire also burned 155 acres of timber in Hempstead County over the weekend, he said.
Most of the fires are caused by lightning but a handful are “human-caused,” he said.
Eight counties are under burn bans, meaning residents are prohibited from burning of trash, debris and other items. The counties are: Cleveland, Crawford, Garland, Jefferson, Lincoln, Nevada, Polk and Sebastian.
The commission also placed the lower one-third of the state under a high danger for wildfires.
“At this time of the year, if we have a dry pattern set up for a long time with high temperatures, it makes fires burn longer,” Reed said.