Philadelphia health officials making plans to keep residents safe during "dangerous heat wave"
Officials are making plans to keep people safe in Philadelphia as a potentially historic and dangerous heat wave is set to hit the city.
Thousands will be celebrating America's 250th birthday and the FIFA World Cup with the Fan Festival in Lemon Hill and a Round of 16 Men's World Cup match at Philadelphia Stadium this weekend. The heat is already impacting those events.
Doctors say people need to be prepared if they're going to be outside for all the festivities coming up this week and weekend.
As Independence Mall gets ready for festivities to mark the country's historic 250th birthday, a historic heat wave is also expected in the Philadelphia region.
"This is a dangerous heat wave," James Garrow, a spokesperson for Philadelphia's Department of Public Health, said, "and we need folks to really take it seriously."
Garrow says the city will declare a heat health emergency when the heat index reaches 100, which is a combination of temperature and humidity, expected to happen Wednesday.
"This is when the city opens cooling centers, opens the PCA heatline and really adds in a bunch of work that we do to keep people cool and safe during heat emergencies," Garrow said.
The city has about 50 cooling centers that are mainly in libraries and recreation facilities, where residents can cool off.
There will also be cooling stations at all the big events, like on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which will host concerts and fireworks and at the FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill.
"A lot of these places will have cooling tents, coolants, misting tents, places to refill water bottles, places to get out of the sun and into the shade," Garrow said.
Doctors say many people don't realize how dangerous extreme heat can be. It's the No. 1 weather-related killer in the United States.
"For each degree increase in temperature, we see a significant increase in heart attacks," Dr. Sadeer Al-Kindi, a preventive cardiologist, said. "We do see a significant increase in strokes."
Doctors say it's critical to drink a lot of water to avoid dehydration. Signs of heat-related illness include being in a state of confusion, fever and being unable to drink.
It's something the city says it's expecting.
"That's why the entire city is meeting regularly to make sure that we're planned and have access to services that folks can use to stay cool and to keep themselves safe," Garrow said.
The heat is most dangerous for the elderly and people with medical conditions like heart disease. In addition to the heat, the health department is also expecting an ozone alert when air pollution becomes more dangerous.
