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MERCURY TOPS 100

July 7, 2010 12:35 am

As break master, rising ninth-grader Bridget Phillips holds the most powerful job. She decides when her work group gets to sit in the shade of the lone tree in the Spotsylvania County yard and drink the precious water and Gatorade.

Phillips and 40 other local students are taking part in Fred Camp, a Christian-based nonprofit that has volunteered renovation and construction services to area residents for one week each summer for the past 12 years.

This week's 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. shifts are even tougher given the triple-digit temperatures.

The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for the area through tonight. The average temperature for this time in July is a high of 89 degrees, but yesterday's high reached 101.6 at the National Weather Service station at the Fredericksburg Wastewater Treatment Plant.

With the high temps and humidity, the Fred Camp groups will struggle to stay on schedule to finish their projects this Friday.

"The heat makes it so you're moving through molasses," said Megan Montgomery, 23, a University of Mary Washington student and leader of Phillips' group.

The group is building a ramp onto a house for an elderly Spotsylvania resident. The stakes for the addition must be at least 1 feet into the ground.

"The ground is so hard," said Gil Seaux, the group's handyman and chairman of the Spotsylvania School Board. "That's the challenge--getting 18 inches down."

Even with their arsenal of Popsicles, water and Gatorade, the 10 groups have gone through a lot more liquid this year than in past years.

"It's a lot more draining, physically," said Stephanie Liebau, a rising freshman at Virginia Tech. In her five years working with Fred Camp, she called this week easily the hottest.

Liebau's group, which is installing a new wall and painting the exterior of a small house in Caroline County, has more shade than the other group.

"It's heavenly," Liebau said of the large tree in the front yard where there's a cooler and a supply of Girl Scout cookies.

PARKS ARE QUIET

While the Fred Camp campers are outside at the peak-heat hours, Jimmy Fletcher from Spotsylvania's Parks and Recreation said that's not the case at county parks.

"It seems to be more people coming in the morning and later in the afternoons," he said. "It's been a while since we've had [a summer] this bad."

Fletcher said numbers at the pools have even gone down this week, as people are just avoiding the outdoors altogether in the afternoons.

Health care professionals encourage people to stay indoors to avoid heat exhaustion.

So far, local medical centers are not seeing a noticeable spike in heat-related cases.

Deborah Morris, spokeswoman for Mary Washington Healthcare said none of its emergency centers have been particularly busier because of the heat wave.

The Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center hadn't seen an overwhelming number of cases of heat-related illness in the past few weeks, but Dr. Travis Jasper said a lot of patients don't recognize the signs.

"They don't come in saying 'Hey, I've been in the heat,'" Jasper said.

These patients usually come in complaining of cramps or dizziness, which are both heat-related symptoms.

Children and the elderly are most at risk for heat exhaustion, but a lot of patients had been working in the yard when they developed it.

For mild cases, a patient simply needs a hydrating IV and then recovers fine, Jasper said.

He said that by the time you feel the symptoms, you've already hit the point of exhaustion, and in some cases "you're at a point where it's going to be life threatening."

Fred Camp's executive director, Mindy Liebau, said only one adult participant has gotten sick this week, and that participants have been visiting the sites to refill water coolers. Groups are encouraged to get water every 30 minutes.

END IN SIGHT?

The hot streak may be interrupted with thunderstorms through the weekend starting Friday. Kevin Witt of the National Weather Service said the area is approaching what is normally the peak of the summer heat.

But for now, the group working on the ramp must bear the heat to finish the job.

"We'll do whatever it takes to get it done," Seaux said. "We've been trying to keep the kids healthy as we do this."

Sara Mitchell: 540/374-5000, ext. 5617
Email: smitchell@freelancestar.com