OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma State University football players are among the most well-conditioned people in the state, but like everyone else, they’re susceptible to the triple-digit heat wave enveloping the state.
“You educate and you monitor and our players tend to do fairly well with it, but when it’s 107 degrees, they’re at high risk, so we’re not going to relax on it,” OSU athletic trainer Rob Hunt said.
Hunt and the Cowboys weren’t the only ones taking precautions on Monday, as much of Oklahoma remained under a heat advisory issued by the National Weather Service through Tuesday. Pittsburg and Tulsa counties are under an excessive heat warning, also through Tuesday.
Kevin Rowland, the chief investigator for the state Medical Examiner’s office, said Monday the death of a 76-year-old Lone Wolf man has been attributed to heat-related causes. Pat Bunch died while driving a tractor on Saturday in Kiowa County.
Tina Wells, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Services Medical Authority in Tulsa, said an unidentified homeless man who died Sunday is also suspected to have succumbed to the extreme heat.
A 74-year-old Oklahoma City woman remained in critical condition Monday after collapsing on Friday, said Lara O’Leary, a spokesman for EMSA in Oklahoma City. The woman had been sitting on her porch when she became overwhelmed by the heat.
Heat illness includes a range of disorders that occur when a person is exposed to more heat than their body can handle. Symptoms can include muscle cramps, heavy perspiration, headache, nausea or vomiting, faintness and fatigue.
National Weather Service meteorologist John Pike said high temperatures of 100 or higher were expected throughout the state Monday and Tuesday, with the potential for a slight cooling in parts of the state on Wednesday.
Until then, “we’ve just got to deal with it,” said Rebecca Coleman, the assistant band director at Edmond Santa Fe High School, where a weeklong band camp began Monday morning.
Coleman said that before the camp began, participants were sent a letter listing items they would need to be prepared to deal with the heat, including sunblock, hats and water.
She said camp participants take frequent water breaks and that from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., they will be inside working on their music.
“The kids are doing really well,” she said. “We have informed them and they are prepared.”
At Oklahoma State, Hunt said football players began their team running in the afternoon hours in July to prepare them for dealing with the heat.
Also, he said the NCAA mandates a 5-day “climatization” period for players, during which they practice for two days without pads, two days with shoulder pads only and one day of full pads before beginning two-a-day practices.
Still, problems can occur during that time. During a practice on Saturday morning in Stillwater, Hunt said a half-dozen players received intravenous fluids after experiencing symptoms of heat-related illness.
“It’s something that their bodies will have to get used to it,” Hunt said. “We really do a lot of education from the pushing fluids side of things.”
Temperatures on Monday soared past 100 in parts of Oklahoma before noon, and by 2:45 p.m., it was 109 degrees in Freedom, in Woods County in northwestern Oklahoma, according to the Oklahoma Mesonet.
Pike said a high-pressure ridge in the atmosphere is “parked” over much of the southern U.S., resulting in hot, dry weather.
“It’s more or less keeping any fronts from moving through,” Pike said. “It’s just a typical summer upper-level pattern.”
Pike said there could be a slight cooling in the northern part of the state on Wednesday, and by Thursday, much of western and central Oklahoma will have high temperatures in the upper 90s. Highs could drop into the lower 90s by the weekend, he said.
Until temperatures drop, medical personnel are taking extra precautions, O’Leary said.
The heat “wears you down over time,” she said. “It’s like standing in front of a blow dryer.”
In Tulsa, members of the Tulsa Heat Coalition met Monday to review statistics related to the hot weather, discuss the forecast and plan for the possible opening of cooling stations, Wells said.
Members of the coalition include EMSA, the National Weather Service, the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency, the Tulsa Fire Department and community service agencies.
A heat alert issued by EMSA entered its third day on Monday, “and we still have a couple of dangerous days,” Wells said.
A similar alert is in place in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, O’Leary said, and will remain effective “until temperatures drop.”
