Nobody has to tell anybody around these parts that it is hot. I mean, it is officially summer now and in Texas that means heat. I can only imagine how folks that haven’t lived here very long feel as the good ol’ Texas sun cranks up the oven and starts scorching all of us for the next couple of months.
The good folks that predict the weather tell us that this summer is gonna be a little extra hot, and I don’t mean just the weather folks on the television but the honest to good ness pros that do it for a living. As we sit right now, and I hope you found yourself a shady spot to read this, there is a big heat dome over the southern section of the United States, and forecasters say we could see heat indexes as high as 120 degrees for the next week or so.
Now, since I have lived in Texas all of my 58 years, it comes to mind a few things we all ought to think about while this heat is sitting on top of us. So, let me throw a couple of things at ya, and make myself a few friends at the fire department.
Top of the list is that this heat dries everything out, so burning, of any kind, is not a great idea. One spark from a fire can ignite this dried out stuff and then the brave folks down at the station have to put on all of their hot, heavy gear and go out in this triple digit heat and put out a grass fire, or worse. So, how about if all of us help them out and just don’t burn anything unless it is absolutely necessary.
The next thing that comes to mind is that regardless of how much we decide to help them by not burning, they are going to have fires to respond to and that will mean them being out in this heat. What we can next do for them is make sure they have plenty of supplies of water, Gatorade and other beverages to keep them hydrated. It only takes a few minutes in this heat to wipe somebody out, especially if they are manning a hose and standing feet away from a fire. So, how about when you go to the store, but an extra case of water or two and drop it off at your local fire station. I guarantee you they will appreciate it.
Next on my personal list of things we can do to help firemen, law enforcement and first responders is to get a stiff neck. By that I mean let’s all stop being rubberneckers. It never fails when there is an accident on the interstate that both sides will get log jammed because folks just have to slow down and see what is going on. This just creates the possibility for another collision, as seen in Texarkana the other day where one wreck caused another and then another, until there were five individual wrecks in one stretch of the highway. This goes for fires too.
As a younger journalist I used to listen to the scanner and make every call the fire department rolled out on. One day as I was talking to my friend the fire chief, he told me something that I have never forgotten. He said, “Kenny, we know you are doing your job, but do you know that when you are here taking pictures of us fighting a fire, it just means one more person that we have to watch and keep from getting hurt.” I stopped going to fires after that.
We can all do little things to help out. Let’s leave the emergency responses to the pros, andjust make sure they have what they need to keep us all safe.