Extreme heat poses danger as 100-degree conditions expected in the region

REGIONAL — It’s a dangerous forecast over the next week, for several reasons. According to data from NOAA , over the past 30 years, heat beats every other cause of weather-related deaths by a two-to-one margin. Heat safety is extremely important to keep in mind heading into 100-degree conditions, like we will be seeing.

Another risk from extreme heat is the risk of fires. Fire danger can become deadly as well.

According to Energy Efficiency Supervisor with the Benton PUD , Robert Frost, extreme heat waves can also impact houses through that same risk of fire danger, depending on where the fire starts.

“If it's under a line, you know, if the fire’s around a pole or something like that, and there could possibly be an outage if a fire were to burn down a pole and things,” said Frost. “That would be the main concern with a fire, would be to take out some sort of distribution line.”

It’s not just fires that could affect our ability to stay cool in these extreme temperatures, it’s also how we’re using our energy. You may be tempted to crank the temperatures down inside your home. When it comes to this heat, air conditioning can be working overtime to keep us cool.

Frost advised what to do to make sure not to overwork your systems in the extreme heat.

“As energy savings, the kind of best place to start is closing your blinds in your house, making sure that that sun's not radiating inside and heating up, heating up your home. So, keeping the blinds closed when it's the hot days, and then in the evening hours, if the temperature’s cooler than your thermostat settings, opening those windows back up and getting some air in the house to cool it off, you know, kind of for free air conditioning at that point if the set point’s higher than the temperature outside,” said Frost.

He also said the PUD recommends setting the thermostat at 75 to 78 degrees in the summer for cooling, if possible. Frost also said they know people will be running their air conditioners quite a bit during this heatwave, and contractors will likely be working some overtime as the heat continues.

He advised to have a place ready to go in case you AC does go out, and also to check on vulnerable populations.

READ MORE FROM APPLEVALLEYNEWSNOW.COM:

​COPYRIGHT 2024 BY APPLE VALLEY NEWS NOW. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.