Heat Advisory Continues

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(Wednesday) July 7, 2010

Carla Branch & Alex Hampl
alexandrianews.org

With temperatures in Alexandria expected to climb once again to triple digits, the National Weather Service has issued a Heat Advisory and a Code Orange Air Quality Alert for today. A Code Orange Air Quality Alert means that air pollution levels may become unhealthy for some people including children, the elderly and people suffering from asthma and heart and lung disease. The heat index is supposed to reach 105 this week.

Among the many problems that the heat wave is causing are power outages throughout the City. At 11:00 a.m. most of the lights and the air conditioning went off at City Hall.  By 1 p.m., officials made the decision to close City Hall, Tavern Square, and Banker’s Square, where many non-emergency city offices are located. All emergency services in the City remain fully operational.

The OHAD Board of Architectural Review Hearing will be held tonight as scheduled, 7:30 p.m., in Council Chambers. The Transportation Commission meeting and BRAC Public Hearing scheduled for tonight at 7:30 in City Hall has been cancelled.

“These power outages began happening on Sunday, mostly in Del Ray, Arlandria and Old Town. Two transformers exploded on Sunday night and left people stranded in an elevator at Alexandria House. I went over there and talked to someone in a Dominion Virginia Power truck who told me that some of the transformers are 25 years old and they don’t make them anymore,” said Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille, whose office was dark during an interview with alexandrianews.org staff this morning. “I am going to arrange a meeting with representatives from Dominion Virginia Power when this current situation eases a bit just to talk about what is causing these problems. I understand that the additional power use may cause rolling outages but when equipment starts to blow up, that indicates there’s an aging infrastructure problem.

“Dominion has been very responsive in handling the outages but we need to look at the bigger problem. They have requested a rate increase and usually City Council opposes any requested utility rate increase. If Dominion wants to use that additional money for capital needs, we might be willing to look at an increase. We won’t support an increase that simply increases their profits,” Euille said.

On Tuesday night, two transformers in Del Ray exploded, one on Howell and one on Del Ray avenues. Firefighters extinguished the burning poles but several homes and businesses were without power for some time. Dominion Power offered some energy-saving tips including:

• Raising the thermostat setting to 78 degrees to recognize savings of 1 percent or more on the monthly electric bill for each increase of one degree.
• Changing the direction of a ceiling fan so that the air blows downward in the summer.  A ceiling fan uses less power than air conditioning and increases comfort, particularly when used in conjunction with raising the thermostat.  It can make the room feel 10 degrees cooler.
• Closing drapes during the hottest times of the day to block heat from entering the home. Sunny windows account for a significant amount of unwanted heat and make air conditioners work much harder.
• Scheduling activities that require hot water — such as washing dishes or clothes — for the early morning or late evening. This will result in less heat and humidity being added to your home.

No Escape

Many construction workers, VDOT crews and City workers who maintain outdoor property must work despite the heat.  Michael McCave is working for WB Hopke Co. this summer. On Wednesday, he worked from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. putting in a sewage line on Wythe and North Henry Streets in Old Town.

“I’m obviously soaked in sweat,” McCave said. “I’m wearing a long-sleeve shirt, a hard hat, jeans, steel-toe boots – but those guys in Iraq and Afghanistan got it worse, like 30 degrees hotter than this, so I’m not complaining.”

It was a long day for six Kathmar Asphalt Construction workers. The crew spent most of the day ripping up the intersection of Tennessee Avenue and Gresham Place and then lay 300 degree asphalt from Virginia Paving. The asphalt took a few more hours to arrive than anticipated.

“Man, I’m supposed to get off early,” said Kathmar worker Nico Lopez. “It ended up being a full day. Oh, man. But if you find some guys roofing, they probably got it worse than us.”

Devin Garnett, a Kathmar worker, tried to take a break by sitting on a stone wall. “Wow. You can’t even sit down it’s so hot. One reason it’s been tough today is that they had to split up the crews. There’s a lot of work fixing potholes from the winter – a lot of work on a very hot day,” he said.

Governor Warns of Increased Risk of Fire

With virtually no rain for several weeks and temperatures regularly soaring above 95 degrees over an extended period of time, Governor Bob McDonnell warned Virginians today that conditions are ripe for wildfires across the Commonwealth.

“Typically, Virginia’s summer climate of high humidity and regular thunderstorms translates into green fields, grass, and trees and a lack of the kind of summer fire seasons experienced by many other states.” Governor McDonnell said.  “But that’s simply not the case this year.  The extremely hot temperatures combined with no real rain for several weeks have turned a lot of things brown, and that means the threat of fire has increased.”

The Governor has been keeping in close contact with officials at the Virginia Department of Forestry (DOF) as the various wildland fire indices the department monitors continue to move into areas of the scales that are not usually seen outside of the normal spring and fall fire seasons.  The drought index scale, which DOF uses to rank the likelihood of fire danger based on ground moisture, ranges from 0 – 800, where 0 equals total ground saturation and 800 is considered desert-like conditions.

“On the drought index scale, most of Virginia is in the 500+ range right now, and we should be closer to 200 during the summer months,” McDonnell said.

Keeping Cool

The City is encouraging visitors and residents to:

• Stay indoors and limit their exposure to the sun; drink plenty of water; and wear loose, lightweight and light-colored clothing.

• Check on neighbors who may be at risk or do not have access to air conditioning.

• Keep pets indoors and provide them with plenty of fresh water

• Be conservative in using electricity, as demand for electric power will be high over the next several days.

A number of air-conditioned City facilities and public places are currently available for residents to “beat the heat.”

• Recreation Centers. All City recreation centers are open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. On weekends, recreation centers operate on a limited, varied schedule. For more information, call 703.746.4343 or visit alexandriava.gov/RecreationCenters

• Libraries. The Beatley Central Library, 5005 Duke Street, is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Hours of operation for the Barrett, Duncan, and Burke branches differ; please call 703.746.1702 or visit http://www.alexandria.lib.va.us for more information

• Pools. The City’s Old Town (1609 Cameron St.) and Warwick (3301 Landover St.) swimming pools are open seven days a week from noon to 7 p.m. to provide relief from the effects of excessive heat. For more information about these and other City pools, visit alexandriava.gov/Pools or call 703.519.2160, ext. 21.
People living in the City of Alexandria who do not have air conditioning or access to an air conditioned environment should call the City’s Department of Human Services at 703.746.5902. For more information on remaining healthy in the heat, visit alexandriava.gov, or call the Alexandria Health Department at 703.746.4996.