Community Corner

As Temperatures Climb, County Offers A Cool Hand

Health officials: Avoid prolonged time outdoors and take precautions to avoid heat-related illness

As heat continues to smother most of the United States, Montgomery County is waking up to another day of dangerously high temperatures and poor air quality.

Meanwhile, local governments are attempting to provide residents some relief.

The county issued a news release early Wednesday evening reminding residents that county facilities are open—and cool. County recreation centers are waiving normal sign-in and access card requirements in order to offer residents respite from the heat.

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Libraries, swimming pools, senior centers and regional services centers are also open and air-conditioned.

The City of Rockville announced Wednesday that.

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County officials urged residents to take precautions to protect themselves and their families and friends from heat-related illness.

“Summer heat waves can be dangerous, especially for seniors and those with chronic illnesses,” said Dr. Ulder J. Tillman, the county’s health officer. “It is important for all of us to check on our friends, relatives and neighbors to make sure they are safe during these extreme temperatures.”

The county provided the following tips:

  • Stay indoors, whenever possible. If your home is does not have air conditioning, county facilities, shopping malls, movie theaters and museums do. Homeless shelters that are normally closed during daytime hours will remain open to provide relief from the heat.
  • Avoid strenuous activities that can lead to overexposure to the sunsuch as sports and gardening. If you must do a strenuous activity, do it during the coolest part of the day—usually in the morning before 9 a.m.
  • Drink plenty of water. Dehydration, cramps, exhaustion or heat stroke can result from not drinking enough fluids. Water is best. Avoid drinks containing alcohol or caffeine.
  • When outdoors, wear proper protection from the sun.  Light-colored clothing, a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen are recommended. (For more information on choosing the right sunscreen see .)
  • Never leave pets or children in a vehicle for any amount of time, even if the windows are cracked open.
  • Monitor those at high risk, including children up to four years old, individuals 65 years old or older and individuals who are ill, overweight or on certain medications.

The county’s tips also included signs to look for that could indicate heat-related illness such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

The National Weather Service forecasts more dangerously hot temperatures for at least the next four days. A Code Orange air quality advisory was in effect on Wednesday afternoon, meaning that air pollution might be unhealthy to children, people with asthma, heart or lung disease, and the elderly.

By Wednesday afternoon, the weather service had already issued an excessive heat warning for the region for Thursday and Friday afternoons.

Temperatures on Thursday and Friday will be in the high 90s but the heat index will make it feel like it’s closer to 115 degrees, said National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Lasorsa.

“The warm front from the Midwest is shifting into the Mid-Atlantic region,” Lasorsa said.

A chance of thunderstorms on Friday evening could bring scant amounts of rain but are not expected to bring any relief from the heat, according to forecasts.

With temperatures climbing, the energy supply has so far met the demand, Pepco spokesman Andre Francis said Wednesday afternoon.

“We haven’t hit any high peaking days for the year,” Francis said. “Everything is within the normal specs as far as usage.”

Still, in these days when more air conditioning units are working longer and harder, the utility is reminding customers that they can help prevent outages by conserving energy.

Customers can conserve energy by raising thermostats to 78 degrees and using electric fans, drawing curtains and blinds, not opening refrigerators and freezers more than necessary and forgoing the use of appliances that use a lot of electricity, according to tips posted on Pepco’s website.

“We don’t expect anything to happen,” Francis said about 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. “Right now we only have 39 customers without power in our service region. We’re on board to keep power on.”

By 11:30 p.m., that number stood at 75 customers, including just one of 308,878 customers in Montgomery County, according to Pepco’s online outage map.

Andre L. Taylor contributed to this article.


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