Heat, Out-Of-Town Visitors Drive Mountain Rescues
Download mp3 (921.23 KB)
One of the hottest summers on record is winding down, but the Valley is still seeing a high number of heat-related mountain rescues.
The Phoenix Fire Department had eight rescues in three days during a recent weekend. Scott Douglas is with Phoenix Fire.
He says that spring and fall typically see higher volumes of rescues, in part because the Valley sees more out-of-town visitors, in part because the heat is deceptive.
"It’s still warm," said Scott Douglas, a spokesman for the Phoenix Fire Department. "I mean people think October back east, if you come here you’re thinking, it’s fall et cetera. Well, we’re still 95 degrees today. So, the extreme heat, people coming in from out of state, just the volume of rescues is going to go up.”
He said that sometimes people do not understand what they are getting into when they go on a hike.
“We do have a lot more hikers that are out on the trails, specifically, on Camelback Mountain and South Mountain as two of our probably busiest mountains," Douglas said.
The department reminds hikers to drink lots of water and start their hike early, even during the fall.
