Doctors warn of burns from asphalt as heat wave hits US West

PHOENIX (AP) — Doctors who work in Arizona and Nevada burn centers are warning of injuries from contact with super-heated roadways and other surfaces as the first extreme heat wave of the year extends across the U.S. West.

A high pressure system is expected to push temperatures above 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 Celsius) this week in Las Vegas and Phoenix. Health officials advised people to be mindful of hot asphalt, sidewalks and even desert sand.

Elsewhere, heat warnings stretched from California's central and inland valleys to as far north as Montana and Wyoming, where predicted highs of 109 degrees (43 Celsius) on Tuesday are expected to shatter records.

Those northern states should see relief by mid-week, but no such respite is expected for Arizona, Utah, Nevada and parts of California. National Weather Service excessive heat warnings last through the weekend for those states. The high temperatures will be made worse by the lack of a break in the weather, according to AccuWeather, whose forecasters called it a “rare, dangerous and deadly” event.

That means burn centers are likely to be busy.

In the Southwest, the problem of burns from hot surfaces is growing as temperatures rise due to climate change and increasing urbanization.

And it shows up in emergency rooms like the one at the Arizona Burn Center in Phoenix, where director Dr. Kevin Foster said 104 people were admitted in June, July and August 2020 with serious burn injuries due to contact with scorching surfaces. Seven people died.

Many more received outpatient treatment.

“It doesn’t take much time to get a full thickness or third degree burn when exposed to hot pavement,” Foster said in a press briefing last week. “Because if you look at hot pavement or asphalt at two o’clock in the afternoon in direct...