By Linda Bock
The Telegram & Gazette
BOSTON — Like many people, Charlie Coggins has been listening to predictions of the heat wave that has descended upon the region.
“I’ve been watching the weather personally,” Mr. Coggins said. “I’m saying, ‘Oh, my God.’”
Mr. Coggins is particularly interested in the weather reports because he is the director of the Leominster Emergency Management Agency. With forecasts of extremely high temperatures and humidity predicted for the coming days, he called a meeting of the agency yesterday.
“I felt it would be prudent on our part to be prepared,” Mr. Coggins said. He said the officials discussed opening a cooling center.
Officials in many cities and towns throughout Central Massachusetts have been having the same sort of discussion this week.
“We in New England aren’t used to any kind of prolonged heat,” Mr. Coggins said.
The National Weather Service in Taunton and public health officials began to warn people in the area yesterday to prepare for dangerously hot weather today through tomorrow afternoon.
“With heat indices of 105 degrees or greater, the combination of hot temperatures and high humidity will create a dangerous situation in which heat illnesses are possible,” the agency said in issuing an excessive-heat watch. The last time the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning was 2006, according to meteorologist Alan Dunham.
At UMass Memorial Medical Center, Mike Hunter, a paramedic and deputy chief of UMass Memorial EMS, and Dr. Marc C. Restuccia, emergency medicine physician at UMass Memorial Medical Center - University Campus in Worcester and medical director of Worcester EMS and Life Flight, said the emergency room and ambulances would be fully staffed. Six ambulances will be available, staffed with two paramedics each. The pair said they are in contact with Worcester city officials and are aware of the cooling centers opened up in the city.
“We just need to make sure that people get to where they are safe,” Mr. Hunter said.
Dr. Restuccia and Mr. Hunter are also urging people to take precautions to stay healthy, such as not exercising outdoors during the height of the heat in the afternoon.
“And I always say, please check on your elderly neighbors, and those without air conditioning,” Dr. Restuccia said. “Think back a few years to Chicago when many elderly died in a heat wave. Those were preventable deaths.”
“The heat wave in July 1995 in Chicago was one of the worst weather-related disasters in Illinois history, with approximately 525 deaths over a five-day period,” according to Dr. Jim Angel, Illinois state climatologist. “As noted by Changnon et al. (1996), ‘The loss of human life in hot spells in summer exceeds that caused by all other weather events in the United States combined, including lightning, rainstorms/floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes.’ Weather hazards such as tornadoes, floods, lightning, and winter storms each result in about 100 deaths per year on average, while heat waves result in about 1,000 deaths per year on average.”
Mr. Hunter said paramedics will likely see heat-related illnesses, but he said the heat could also exacerbate other medical conditions. He said paramedics, who will also be advised to drink plenty of water, will assess each patient individually.
“Sometimes it’s the heat, but sometimes it’s cardiac or respiratory,” Mr. Hunter said. “Heat can just make it worse.”
Temperatures in the 90s to near 100 degrees will feel as hot as 115 degrees or higher when the high humidity is factored in, according to forecasters. Record high temperatures are likely to be set in some locations - adding to the more than 1,000 records that have been set or tied so far this month.
“We don’t get a heat index over 100 degrees in this part of the country very often,” Mr. Dunham said. Area residents are being urged to wear lightweight and loose-fitting clothing. They should also drink plenty of water and avoid prolonged exposure to the sun.
Unhealthy levels of heat and humidity encompassed much of central U.S. from the Southern Plains through the upper Midwest yesterday, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s National Weather Service, and the heat wave is expected to extend throughout Central Massachusetts today and into the weekend.
According to NOAA’s National Weather Service, approximately 995,000 square miles and 141 million people in the United States were under a heat alert (excessive heat warning or watch or heat advisory) as of Wednesday morning.
Occupational and Safety Health Administration officials are recommending that those who work outdoors take frequent rest breaks in shaded or air-conditioned areas.
“Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location,” according to OSHA. “Heat stroke is an emergency. ... Call 911.”
With the temperatures expected to stay high for the next few days, air conditioners will be cranked up to cool people fortunate enough to have them.
David Graves, spokesman for National Grid, said the company relies on ISO New England, which maintains the region’s wholesale electric power grid. He said there were no advisories posted yesterday afternoon.
“There is enough electricity to meet the demands in the coming days,” Mr. Graves said. However, he said, the heat wave will tax the system, “Obviously the demand puts great stress on the equipment, such as the transformers.”
Mr. Graves said the company will continue to monitor the weather.
“Anything in excess of three days would be worrisome.” Mr. Graves said.