Heat Alert At This Year's Tulsa State Fair

High temperatures across eastern Oklahoma are keeping emergency crews busy at the Tulsa State Fair. EMSA has taken 22 people to the hospital, for a variety of reasons. But some of them have been heat

Monday, October 2nd 2006, 10:13 am

By: News On 6

High temperatures across eastern Oklahoma are keeping emergency crews busy at the Tulsa State Fair. EMSA has taken 22 people to the hospital, for a variety of reasons. But some of them have been heat related, which is prompting a reminder about the heat.

News on 6 anchor Craig Day says at the Tulsa State Fair, there is the food, the fun and this year, the heat.

Orvill and Cindy Horton of Bartlesville usually have to bring a jacket to the fair. Cindy Horton: "We usually come every year except for last year, and it's never been this hot that we can remember."

In just three and a half days since the start of the fair, EMSA has taken six people to the hospital for heat related problems. There have been dozens of others feeling the effects of the heat, but who didn't have to be transported.

Jason Whitlow with EMSA: "They come out here and don't drink enough water, that type of thing, so it's been tough on people."

EMSA has a dispatch center set up at the fair. Also, paramedics on bikes and carts patrol the fairgrounds to help people if needed. On a day when the temperature is 95 degrees, that's hot enough to cause problems on its own. But you can figure to add 10-15 degrees in direct sunlight. When the heat reflects off the asphalt midway, that's when it really can cause problems.

EMSA says fairgoers need to drink a lot of water and take frequent breaks in either the shade, or inside, where it is air-conditioned. That's what Jammi Sivadon of Sapulpa does with her children. â€œWe're just not used to this at fair time. It's kind of warm, supposed to be 90's all week. So we're basically just taking them inside a lot. They have the air conditioning where the animals are. Go to the IPE. Thought we'd go out here in the morning and then go in there in the afternoon when it warms up. So we're trying to beat the heat."

In addition to heat related calls at the Tulsa State Fair, EMSA has responded to three women in labor and another woman was jabbed between her toes with a corn dog stick.