Heat Takes Toll On Pittsburgh Area

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- There's hot and there's really hot.

Just ask Anton Zupancic and his Folino Asphalt crew.

"Alphalt's 320 degrees coming out of the back of the truck through the machine, 100 degrees on the ground, you're about 400 degrees," he said.

Drop a little water on the tarry surface and it boils in seconds. Think about putting down asphalt over 14-city blocks at high noon and you get the idea.

"Survive – that's all you can do," he added.

The dog days of summer are here early.

"What we are seeing is a lot more medical calls - shortness of breath, diabetics, asthma patients," says city paramedic Chief Mark Bocian.

On Wednesday alone, Pittsburgh paramedics answered nearly 200 calls – many heat-related – and they're gearing up for more.

"We're ramping up. We're gonna have additional personnel, another ambulance on 7-3 and 3-11 to try to accommodate for the heat," Bocian said.

No major worries yet about larger capacity energy demands. There's a plentiful supply, according to Duquesne Light and service crews will carry extra transformers in case of failure.

Then there are the plants.

"That will happen to a lot of plants this time of year because of high humidity. Funguses have a tendency to reproduce real fast," Chuck Beck of Sestilli's Nursery, said.

He is referring to that face that this heat wave is stressful to plants too. Organic liquid soluble fertilizers help. You also might want to get up early.

"And go out and water and soak it."

Dave Zazac of the Allegheny County Health Department says, "We are in a code orange for today and probably tomorrow."

The heat is nothing to fool with. There's a rise in pollutants and the heat can mix badly with prescription medications, especially in lung, heart or high blood pressure patients.

Zazac adds, "If you have questions about whether or not you should be out for an extended period of time, talk to your doctor."

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