How hot is it?
Some people have the luxury of heading to jobs in air conditioned offices.
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Children from the Monster Club, a day-care center
at Westwood Club Apartments, record a
temperature of 100 degrees on the playground.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Others were outside last week, working hard with temperatures pushing toward 100 degrees.
That kind of heat can be dangerous. So Dr. Michael Shafe, emergency physician and emergency room medical director at MCG Health System, strongly suggested working outdoors during the cooler morning hours and working indoors or in shady areas during the hottest parts of the day.
Shafe added that hydration is critical when working in the heat.
"The other thing you really need to do is make sure you are really well hydrated before you put yourself in that situation and plan to continue to hydrate yourself," Shafe said.
"Really, the skin on the body is the body's radiator. If you take away water out of a car's radiator, the car is going to overheat. Well if you take away water, out of the human radiator - the skin - and you decrease the ability to sweat and cool the body, you will overheat as well."
To find out how those stuck outdoors cope through the dog days of summer, the News-Times tracked down construction workers, asphalt pavers, lifeguards and others throughout the county. Through an unscientific survey and a store-bought thermometer, here's a sample of the temperatures people worked and played through on July 7:
9:40 a.m.
Donnie Wynn, a construction supervisor, shows that its 102 degrees on the job site in Riverwood Plantation.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Kyle Ogletree has been out managing the grounds at the four Riverwood Plantation subdivisions since 6:30 a.m., not to beat the heat but as the beginning to his regular 11-hour day.
As he rides the mower across a common grass area at 9:40 a.m., the thermometer already reads 96 degrees.
"There's not much you can do about the heat except keep a water bottle," Ogletree said. "And when it's empty, refill it quick."
While mowing, weed-eating and edging for an average of 11 hours, Ogletree said he goes through five or six 24-ounce bottles of water with at least one or two poured over his head.
10 a.m.
After more than 20 years in the masonry business, Donnie Wynn, supervisor of Wynn Masonry, said he's gotten a little used to working in the heat.
"You can't really get away from the heat," Wynn said while supervising a crew laying a home foundation in the Morningside subdivision Wednesday morning.
At 10 a.m. and already dripping with sweat, the thermometer Wynn held registered at 102 degrees. He makes sure that he and his crew take in plenty of water to avoid cramping and passing out - signs of dehydration.
The temperature soars to 115 degrees as Robbie Lowe, a member of a road paving crew, holds the thermometer next to a pile of hot asphalt.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Though he may be getting used to near 100-degree heat, Wynn admits he envies people who go to air conditioned jobs everyday.
10:20 a.m.
Thomas Andrews, a maintenance technician for Comcast, spends most of his day in a cherry picker 20 feet off the ground, where the winter winds are chillier and the summer sun is hotter.
"I've got a big old bucket of water over there," Andrews said pointing to the side of his work truck. "I keep it filled with ice water and drink only water or Gatorade. I don't drink soda pop. You drink soda pops (in this heat), and you'll start cramping up."
Despite working in the hot conditions, Andrews said he wouldn't trade working outside for an air conditioned desk.
"(I'm not jealous) at all," Andrews said. "I love it. I couldn't work in an office for nothing."
10:45 a.m.
Laying asphalt might be one of the hottest jobs out there. Larry McClure knows this firsthand. He is a paving crew supervisor for Columbia County Roads and Bridges.
Chad Borseth and Alyson Ohmer, nursery employees, record a temperature of 96 degrees.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
McClure and another road maintenance crew lead by Ted Sills couldn't start working on a deep patching project on Davis Road until 9 a.m., when the early morning traffic subsided, McClure said.
In hot and humid times like the past week, McClure said his job of grading the 300-degree asphalt is easier to handle than that of his crew members who have to get into the asphalt and spread it before it cools to 200 degrees.
The thermometer read 115 degrees when held near a steaming pile of fresh asphalt by crew member Robbie Lowe.
"Every truck has water, and we try to keep hydrated," McClure said.
Though he admitted being a little jealous of cool office jobs, McClure said that after more than 20 years working in the heat, he has kind of gotten used to it. But having two crews at one works site allows workers time to switch out and take cooling breaks.
"Days with no breeze blowing, it's rough," Sills said.
11 a.m.
The hottest time of day to in the outdoor nursery at Green Thumb West is between 3 and 6 p.m., said nursery worker Alyson Ohmer. At only 11 a.m., the thermometer registered 96 degrees in the partially shaded nursery.
Kyle Ogletree, who works as a groundskeeper for Riverwood Plantation, shows 96 degrees on his thermometer.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Ohmer, who said most landscapers start their work days much earlier, would like to start work in the early cooler hours, but the nursery's retail business limits work to begin at 8 a.m.
Chad Borseth, Ohmer's co-worker, said they drink plenty of water, sneak into the air conditioned retail store every once in a while and, if they get too hot during the 10-hour shift, they will squirt down with the water hose.
"They don't realize how good they have it," Ohmer said about indoor workers.
11:20 a.m.
The children in Westwood Club Apartments' The Monster Club day-care program were playing kickball on the complex's front lawn. Piled under a nearby tree were several filled water bottles.
The group stopped playing to check the thermometer, which read 100 degrees.
Naomi Olson, teacher of the class, said all the kids put on sunscreen and take water breaks every 10 to 15 minutes. She doesn't usually keep the children outside for more than an hour or so at a time.
"In the afternoon, they don't go outside unless it's in the water," Olson said.
3 p.m.
Columbia County Deputy Ron Rivera-Colon recorded a temperature of 102 in a shopping center parking lot while on bike patrol.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Columbia County sheriff's Deputies Ron Rivera-Colon and Kevin Center peddle an average of 15 miles day as members of the bike patrol no matter what the weather.
"We drink a lot of water," Rivera-Colon said as the pair stopped for a quick cool-down break in the Wal-Mart parking lot, where the thermometer stood at 102 degrees.
The pair hits the streets about 11 a.m. for 8 1/2 more hours of riding from Wal-Mart on Bobby Jones Expressway to Kroger on Columbia Road to Furys Ferry Road at the county line.
With lots of fluids, cool-off breaks in businesses and filing paperwork at the nearest substation, the pair has not even thought of transferring to an air conditioned patrol car.
"I'd rather do this," Center said.
3:45 p.m.
Bill Read has worked outside for a long time. He even grabs ice pops for children visiting the Gerald Jones Pre-Owned Auto Mall at Columbia Square, where he is a sales consultant.
"It doesn't bother me as much as it does some of the other guys since I have worked outside so much," Read said.
Ben Lewis, a lifeguard at Springlakes pool, recorded a temperature of 101 degrees.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
But he dons sunscreen every morning and tries to get all the work out on the hot lot done early before customer begin to arrive.
A 12-hour shift on the lot, where the temperature read near 104 degrees, can be grueling. But Read said hydration is very important, and the sales staff goes through an average of 5 gallons of water a day.
"The guys hydrate all the time," Read said. "You need to stay hydrating."
4 p.m.
K.J. Kenny, Ben Lewis and Brooks Kennedy think they have the best job on Earth - sun, tan, pool, girls - as lifeguards sitting high above the Springlakes swimming pool.
They don't brave the heat alone. Three lifeguards rotate in 30 minute shifts in the high chair so no one gets overheated.
When Lewis held the thermometer above the crowded pool, the dial pointed to 103 degrees.
All three said that a little sunscreen and lots of water are key, but they also agree they have an advantage over anyone else working in the heat.
Thomas Andrews, a maintenance technician for Comcast, recorded a temperature of 98 degrees.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
"Whenever we have a break, we get in the pool," Lewis said.
Bill Read, a sales consultant at Gerald Jones Pre-Owned Auto Mall at Columbia Square, recorded a temperature of 104 degrees on the sales lot.
Photo by Jim Blaylock