Over about the last two months, Nevada has broken temperature records 28 times. We just came off of 11 straight days over 110 degrees — the previous record was 10 days.
June 2024 was also the hottest June since we started keeping records almost 90 years ago. And, on July 7, Harry Reid airport reported a record-breaking high of 120 degrees, breaking the previous record of 117.
Unsurprisingly, these extremely high temperatures have troubling public health consequences.
Through July 28, at least 63 people had died from heat-related factors, according to the Clark County Coroner's Office. That number only accounts for those who have been identified and whose next of kin have been notified. Officials say drug use and cardiovascular disease played a role in many of the deaths.
Meanwhile, University Medical Center reported 23 pavement burns in June alone, though the number or burns — both treated and untreated — is likely much higher. And general, nonfatal heat-related illness is similarly on the rise.
“Just locally, year-to-date between this year and last year, [heat-related EMT calls are] up about 50 percent,” said Thomas Vince, a medical services officer with the Henderson Fire Department. “Looking at Southern Nevada as a whole, if you compare 2023 to 2022, there's an increase of about 78 percent … we’re almost getting up to doubling those numbers every single year.”
The Henderson Fire Department is the first in the valley to use polar pods, an ice-filled PVC plastic bag a patient with heat illness can be placed into to rapidly cool them. Paramedics have used it once this summer.
“We recognized we had a heat stroke call, body temperature of 108 degrees,” Vince recalled. “We were able to deploy [the polar pod] at the hospital, we used all the ice available there, and rapidly cooled their body temperature down from 108 to 102. And it was a successful discharge the following week.”
We are the first fire department in the valley to use polar ice pods! 💪 This device helps us treat our patients and firefighters who are experiencing a heat emergency.
— Henderson Fire (@HendFireDept) July 4, 2024
Polar pods use ice and cold water to help cool the body’s temperature and avoid serious illness. pic.twitter.com/JTNH9hCZYy
While pre-existing conditions and advanced age do increase the likelihood of someone needing emergency services like the polar pod, MountainView Hospital’s chief nursing officer, Ruth Kain, warned that heat-related illnesses are nondiscriminatory.
“We see from the very young to the very old,” she said. “We've had a lot of homeless that we've had to treat for heat-related illnesses. [And] workers, mainly construction or out in our roadways, that have come in with some heat-related illnesses. Even children that have been at pool parties — we had an incident where they were in the pool … and not drinking enough fluids.”
Another hidden danger is using public transportation in the summer months. Of the 3,700 bus stops operated by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC), only around half have some type of shade.
The commission’s deputy CEO, David Swallow, said they’ve been working to get that number up, so passengers can stay shaded while waiting on their bus.
“Over the last decade or so we've put over 850 shelters out there on the street,” he said. “And going forward, in this next year, we'll have another about 125 [smaller] shelters that we're going to put in throughout the valley, as well as another 170 [larger] shelters.”
All in an effort to protect Southern Nevadans from longer, and hotter, summers.
Guests: Ruth Kain, chief nursing officer, MountainView Hospital; Thomas Vince, medical services officer, Henderson Fire Department; David Swallow, deputy CEO, Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
