Police probe possible heat-related deaths

Friday, July 15, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.

Authorities suspect that the hotter-than-normal temperatures scorching the Las Vegas Valley this week caused or contributed to the death of a 44-year-old man.

Metro Police were called by passersby on Wednesday afternoon regarding a man who was motionless on the ground near East Charleston Boulevard and Eastern Avenue. Terry Lee Walker, who may have been homeless, was later pronounced dead, authorities said.

The coroner's office is conducting an autopsy to determine Walker's cause of death, but investigators suspect heat exposure killed him, authorities said.

Health care officials say they are worried that the valley will record more deaths before the heat wave is over.

More people in Las Vegas have suffered from heat-related problems since the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning Tuesday and extended it each day.

Clark County and Las Vegas Fire and Rescue paramedics answered 24 calls for heat-related illnesses from Tuesday through Thursday, officials said Thursday.

The number of calls for medical help "up substantially" from the typical summer totals and the heat appears to be to blame, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue spokesman Tim Szymanski said Thursday.

For example, paramedics discovered a 75-year-old woman unconscious in a desert area north of the valley Thursday after she went horseback riding at noon.

At 12:45 p.m. Thursday emergency service crews treated a 65-year-old woman, possibly homeless, who was found disoriented from the heat on Bruce Street.

At 2:20 p.m. Thursday paramedics went to North Lamb Boulevard to help a 24-year-old man suffering heat stroke and hot skin, Szymanski said. The man had been removed from the area when paramedics arrived, he said.

An 18-year-old woman suffered from heat exhaustion at a Las Vegas Strip hotel at 3:30 p.m. as the mercury inched up to a high of 115 degrees Thursday, one degree shy of the record of 116 degrees set in 1972.

The National Weather Service has extended the excessive heat warning for Southern Nevada, northwestern Arizona and southeastern California through Saturday. The warning will be extended each day that the thermometer climbs to 110 degrees or more.

Weather Service meteorologist Stan Czyzyh said the forecast for today is 115 degrees, two degrees shy of the hottest temperature ever recorded in Las Vegas of 117 degrees set in 1942. Weekend highs are expected to reach or top 113 degrees.

In the last week there have been three deaths of children left in hot cars, one each in Las Vegas, Denver and Phoenix, said Jan Null, an adjunct meteorology professor at San Francisco State University who tracks such deaths nationwide.

Vehicles heat up rapidly, with most of the temperature rise occurring within the first 15 to 30 minutes, Null said. Even leaving windows open does not slow the heating process, he said.

A baby, child or pet begins to suffer the symptoms of heat stroke -- weakness, disorientation, muscle cramps -- once the body's core temperature reaches 104 degrees, Null said. By the time the temperature hits 107 degrees, the body's cells are so hot they begin to die, he said.

"Infants and children heat up three times to five times faster than adults," Null said.

In the Las Vegas case, 16-month-old Jozia Diaz-Beltran died after her father forgot she was inside his sport utility vehicle when he parked outside a relative's home in the 400 block of Frederick Avenue near Alexander Road and D Street and went inside with a 6-year-old child, police said.

The baby was left in the SUV with the windows rolled up for about three hours before she was taken out, Metro Police said. The outside temperature at the time was 105 degrees. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.

The investigation into the child's death is ongoing and the case will be submitted to the district attorney's office, police spokesman Sgt. Chris Jones said. In prior cases where someone forgot a child was in a car, resulting in a fatality, no charges were filed.

Since 1996 a total of 18 children have died in Nevada after being left in vehicles, according to the Kids in Cars child-safety organization.

A new state law says parents can be charged with a misdemeanor for leaving young children alone in a vehicle, but legislators put an effective date of Oct. 1 on the statute so it can't be applied in this case.

While the elderly and children are most susceptible to heat-related illnesses, many people who succumb to the heat are visitors to Las Vegas, Szymanski said.

"People are over-extending themselves," Szymanski said. Alcoholic beverages or iced coffee and tea, both containing caffeine, all dehydrate the body.

While the dry desert air wicks perspiration off the body, people don't notice that they are becoming dehydrated. "I think Las Vegas residents are more aware of heat effects," Szymanski said.

Dr. Dale Carrison, director of emergency services at University Medical Center, said that people can receive severe burns by touching a scorching steering wheel, walking barefoot on pavement or asphalt and being thrown onto the road in accidents.

Sometimes well-meaning people pull an injured person from a vehicle crash and place them on the pavement, which can cause second or third degree burns to the accident victim, Carrison said.

Then there are the problems that come with trying to stay cool.

The Clark County School District responded to 19 schools with air conditioning problems this week.

Cozine Elementary School at 5300 Coleman Ave. in North Las Vegas got its air conditioning units repaired Thursday morning and classes were back to normal, School District spokesman Steve Lombard said.

In 2004 there were 14 deaths where heat caused or contributed to the person's demise, the coroner's office reported.

So far this year, five deaths have been blamed on the heat, all of them before this week.

Homelessness, old age and exposure to the elements all contributed to the deaths, a coroner's office record keeper said.

Las Vegas residents also turned up their air conditioners another notch Thursday as Nevada Power Company broke record electricity use for the third day in a row.

The utility reported a peak of 5,410 megawatts at 5 p.m. Thursday, beating Wednesday's record of 5,296 megawatts set on Wednesday. The record on Tuesday was 5,062 megawatts, company spokeswoman Sonya Headen said.

It is not unusual for the utility to consistently break previous peak records during extreme temperatures, Headen said.

Pets are also suffering from the heat.

At the Animal Emergency Center on Pecos Road and Patrick Lane veterinarians are seeing two or three cases a week of heat stroke in dogs and cats, said hospital manager Maggie Howes.

"Of course, we always see more cases in the summertime," Howes said.

Another local animal hospital late Thursday transferred a puppy with a temperature of 106 degrees to the center for an overnight stay, Howes said. She had no further details about the animal.

Las Vegas residents have been better about removing their animals from cars and vans than those in North Carolina where Howes used to live. "Back there, we had 10 or 11 cases of heat stroke a week," she said.

The Lied Animal Shelter on Mojave Road is housing 200 dogs and 200 cats, many of them in tents with swamp coolers while a permanent shelter is built. The coolers failed Wednesday and air conditioners were installed Thursday as temperatures inside the tents rose into the 90s.

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