At least 135 million people across the United States are expected to face temperatures approaching 100 degrees in the next few days.
A man used his body to shield his girlfriend from the extreme heat as she suffered from severe dehydration after hiking in soaring temperatures.
Emergency responders administered oxygen to the woman and airlifted the couple to safety. Video shows her appearing to be barely conscious. The temperature was 95 degrees.
The boyfriend says they ran out of water during their hike in California’s Joshua National Park where, this weekend, temperatures could climb as high as 108 degrees.
“She was pretty dehydrated. She was very hot to the touch. There was a chance that one or both of them could have died,” Deputy Manny Romero of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department says.
“People go out on hikes and they don’t understand that it takes just a short amount of time to become dehydrated,” Corporal Andy Rasmussen says.
At least 135 million people across the United States are expected to face temperatures approaching 100 degrees in the next few days.
The National Weather Service administered a warning saying a dangerous and potentially record-breaking heat wave will spread across much of the central and eastern United States next week. The National Weather Service says that the heat wave will put people who are not prepared at a “high risk of heat stress.”
Last summer, 2,302 people suffered from heat-related deaths in the United States. That figure is at its highest in 45 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Emergency medicine doctor Ali Jamehdor of Saint John’s Health Center says people should learn to recognize the signs of dehydration and heat stress quickly.
“From heat exhaustion to heat stroke is a very short amount of time and if you can do that and you can recognize the signs that of you breathing faster, you’re profusely sweating, your temperature is rising, you’re starting to get a bit of a headache, you've got to get yourself out of that situation into a covered, cool area,” Jamehdor tells Inside Edition.
As for hiking, Jamehdor says to go out early in the morning when it is cooler and always bring extra water.
