The heat we’re currently seeing won’t be going away anytime soon, and additional hazards can arise if we don’t act carefully.

Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Kempf advises people to not conduct open trash burns during the current drought conditions because the heat and dried vegetation will combine to enhance the possibility that a fire could spread and get out of hand.

Kempf also says that the likelihood of an electrical fire increases during such hot temperatures  because people make the mistake of running extension cords to operate fans.

Kempf says heat like this will have an effect on car operations too.  Perhaps the best way to avoid an unnecessary hazard during this current hot spell is to drive your car as little as possible.

“One of the hardest things on a vehicle is the heat.  It’s hard on the belts, it’s hard on the hoses.  It’s actually harder on your battery in your summer than it is in the winter.  You can actually boil the water out of your battery so much easier in the summer than you can in the winter.  So there’s the potential of breakdowns on the highway, accidents that could happen, things like that.”

If you have any questions or concerns about the heat or the problems it might cause, contact Emergency Management at 641-332-3030.