Homeless struggle to stay safe from record-high heat
PHOENIX ❯❯ Homeless in America's hottest big metro, Stefon James Dewitt Livengood was laid out for days inside his makeshift dwelling, struggling to breathe, nauseous and vomiting.
Every day this month, temperatures have soared past 110 degrees.
Livengood said he stopped briefly at a free clinic that took his blood pressure and declared it acceptable. But he received no other medical help for his apparent heat exhaustion, or for the peeling skin on his arms he believes was caused by sun exposure. He is careful when he walks through the sprawling tent city, cognizant that if he falls, the simmering black asphalt could seriously burn his skin.
“If you're going outside, let somebody know where you're going so you can be tracked so you don't pass out out there,” he said. “If you fall out in the heat, you don't want a third degree burn from the ground.”
The 38-year-old sleeps in a structure cobbled together with a frame of scavenged wood and metal covered by blue vinyl tarp. The space inside is large enough to stand up and walk around in and features an old recliner and a bicycle Livengood uses less now that he spends more time inside with the sides of his dwelling open.
“Some of the friends that I've made down here, they come check on me if they don't see me moving around,” he said.
Homeless people are among those most likely to die in the extreme heat in metro Phoenix.
The city is seeing its longest run of consecutive days of 110 ever recorded, clocking 28 in a row as of Thursday, even as the first monsoon storm of the season brought some overnight relief.
“It has been a scary situation this year and it's especially scary for our homeless population,” said Dr. Geoff Comp, an emergency room physician for Valleywise Health in central Phoenix.
“They have a more constant exposure to the heat than most of us.”
People living outside are also vulnerable to surface burns from contact with hot metal, concrete or asphalt.
Surgeons at the Arizona Burn Center-Valleywise Health recently warned about burns caused by walking, sitting or falling on outside surfaces reaching up to 180 degrees.
The burn center last year saw 85 people admitted with heat-related surface burns for the months of June through August. Seven died.
Record-high overnight temperatures persisted above 90 for 16 days straight after finally slipping to 89 on Thursday after a storm Wednesday evening kicked up dust, high winds and a bit of rainfall.
If temperatures don't drop sufficiently after the sun sets, it's hard for people's bodies to cool down, health professionals say, especially those who live in flimsy structures without air conditioning or fans.
“People really need a lot of water and a cooling system to recover overnight,” Comp said.
There is no air conditioner, fan or even electricity in Livengood's home.