Arizona really is feeling the burn this summer, due to the extreme heat the state has been experiencing. For example, the temperatures in Maricopa County are so high that people have been going to emergencies with burns that came from falling on the ground. In addition, since Wednesday, all 45 beds at the Arizona Burn Center in Valleywise Health were full as of that day, and up to a third of these patients have fallen and been burned.
The situation was explained by Dr. Kevin Foster, who is the director of burn services at the Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise Health. The health professional gave a statement to CNN in which he talked about how temperatures have been on the rise during summer and said the event is “unusual” when considering the number of affected patients.
“Summers are our busy season, so we anticipate that this sort of thing is going to happen. But this is really unusual, the number of patients that we’re seeing and the severity of injuries. The acuity of injuries is much higher.”
Reports state that temperatures in Maricopa had increased to even 118 degrees on Wednesday and this has caused different warnings to come for the county government website. The authorities have warned residents about the risky temperature conditions, as the skin burns at temperatures of 118 degrees or higher, and the ground can heat up even more during the day to reach dangerously high conditions. The most dangerous type of ground is is dark asphalt, because it absorbs more heat than other surfaces, according to the Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering.