Alex Mathews and Clark Hendry, workers with Iola’s parks and cemetery department, started their work day at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.
With the temperature at 82 degrees and climbing, they tackled the most physical job first: grinding a tree stump near the road. Temperatures were expected to top 100 with a heat index of 108.
“The afternoon gets pretty hot. It gets pretty wild sometimes,” Mathews said.
How do they stay cool while working in the heat?
Both laughed.
“Stay hydrated,” Hendry said.
“If we’re mowing, it’s not too bad. You can get a nice breeze,” Mathews said. “But when it’s still, it’s terrible. Hot and humid. Last week we had cool weather. Now, it’s blazing again.”
THIS WEEK’S heat wave — the latest round of what’s been a brutally hot summer — is another reminder of the importance of planning for the worst, Allen County’s Emergency Management director Jason Trego said.
If there was a lesson to be learned from the July 14 storm that knocked out power for several days, Trego hopes it reminds area residents to be prepared.
What if you lose power? Where would you go to cool down? What would you do with the food in your refrigerator and freezer?
Local city administrators report a few scattered issues with utilities: transformers can go bad, dry ground can shift and cause damage to water and gas pipes.
And if those concerns aren’t enough, workers like Mathews and Hendry must face the heat in the day-to-day course of doing their job.
Trego’s biggest concern is fire — and the county isn’t even at risk despite still being in a drought, according to the Grassland Fire Danger Index. Rather, Trego is concerned about firefighters who have to respond to a fire wearing full protective gear.
“That can cause them to get overheated very quickly,” he said. “My concern with fires is for our first responders. We’re prepared to provide resources and support if there’s any sort of large fire.”
In Iola, assistant city administrator Corey Schinstock said electric crews have been able to respond quickly to reports of power outages.
