Hot news: Towns break heat records
Beating the heat was a challenging effort during the Fourth of July weekend. File photo
Beating the heat was a challenging effort during the Fourth of July weekend. File photo
Was it hot enough for you?
The candles on the country’s 250th birthday cake weren’t the only things generating heat during the Fourth of July weekend.
Middleboro and Lakeville broke temperature records July 2 and tied them July 3, making for a sizzling lead-up to the Fourth of July weekend.
On Thursday, July 2, both towns fell short of the 100-degree mark by just one digit.
The 99-degree heat registered that day easily broke the record of 95.
On Saturday, July 3, the day’s high temperature of 97 tied the record.
July 4 celebrants could celebrate the drop in temps to “only’’ 93, seven degrees off the record 100.
The heat wave kept Middleboro Fire “very busy,’’ Interim Fire Chief Dana Fontaine said.
Not all calls were medical related, he said.
The heat triggered a number of fire alarms and smoke detector systems, he said, which led to calls for response.
There was no call to use the town’s cooling stations, Fontaine said, so they were not activated.
In Lakeville, the “ambulances were very busy during the heat wave,’’ Fire Chief Michael O’Brien said.
Although the medical calls were not necessarily a direct result of the heat wave, some residents with pre-existing breathing-related conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease needed assistance.
The heat “exacerbated’’ their health conditions,the chief said. “The heat just pushed them over the edge.''
The cooling center at the Lakeville Senior Center was opened July 3 from 4 p.m. to midnight, the chief said.
Two people visited to beat the heat, he said.
According to Dr. Scott Fairfield, Chief of the Emergency Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconness in Plymouth, which has an urgent care facility in Middleboro, BID Plymouth,
"We definitely saw an uptick in heat-related illnesses,'' said Dr. Scott Fairfield, Chief of the Emergency Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconness in Plymouth, which has an urgent care facility in Middleboro. Common complaints, he said, included sweating, nausea, headache, dehydration, dizziness, fainting, falls, sunburn and other heat exhaustion symptoms.
He encouraged anyone experiencing heat-related symptoms to move to cooler places if possible, decrease activity levels and drink plenty fluids during these heat waves to help prevent the need for emergency treatment.
Of course, this being New England, the weather conditions didn't last. Residents woke Monday July 6 to rain, temperatures a full 30 degrees cooler than the previous days and the sudden need to trade bathing suits for light jackets.
