OUTAGES AS HEAT GRIPS MASS

As blistering heat climbed to record temperatures yesterday, sending kids home from school early, outages on the North Shore left thousands without power.

A fallen transmission wire between Salem Harbor and Danvers that feeds electricity to substations was behind the sweeping power outage across the North Shore and Cape Ann, according to National Grid.

Spokesman Bob Kievra said there was no indication the wire failure, which occurred shortly before 10:30 a.m., was heat-related, though “it will take some time to ascertain” what went wrong.

“We had about 14,000 folks who originally lost power because of a transmission wire that came down. As of 2 o’clock, we had the vast majority of folks back online,” Kievra said.

Jonathan Sanger, the Gloucester Fire Department’s EMS coordinator, said they responded to at least a dozen calls from people on home oxygen fed to them by electrical condensers that lost power and an- other few calls from people whose air-conditioning stopped working.

About 4,100 Eversource custom- ers in Eastern Massachusetts also were without electricity for part of the day, spokesman Michael Du- rand said. By 5:20 p.m., power had been restored to all but 235.

“Given the heat and high demand for electricity, it’s likely most of those outages were heatrelated,” Durand said.

Boston EMS Chief James Hooley said he expected yesterday’s total call volume to be on par with Tuesday’s, when temperatures also were in the 90s, pushing the number of calls up 12 percent over the day before.

“We see a pretty sharp rise in people feeling weak, dehydrated or confused, which are all heat-related symptoms,” Hooley said.

Nearly two dozen Massachusetts school districts canceled classes or sent children home early because of the heat, which reached 98 degrees, breaking the Aug. 29, 1953, record of 96. With the added high humidity, it felt like 107 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

“Our schools were simply not designed for the sustained heat and humidity we are experiencing since many do not have air conditioning or sufficient cooling systems,” said Mike Morris, superintendent of the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District, in a message to parents.

The Middleboro/Lakeville and Fairmount commuter lines also reported heat-related delays.

COOL JOB: Dan Deloge, above, an ice sculptor for Brookline Ice Co., was all smiles as he carried a bag of ice out of the warehouse to fill an order. Top, beachgoers beat the heat at Revere Beach.

STAFF PHOTOS BY PATRICK WHITTEMORE SEA SELFIE: Revere resident Ricardo Alvarez was all smiles as he made a saline selfie off the shoreline at Revere Beach.