Highs in 70s Halt 5-Day Heat Siege

Southern California’s five-day heat siege came to an end Sunday, allowing residents to again take up some of the things they had put off because of the torrid weather.

Temperatures that had climbed into the 100s for four consecutive days last week and hovered in the 90s on Saturday peaked with a Civic Center high of 77 Sunday. Highs on Monday were similarly expected to reach the mid-70s.

When Toni Forge awoke Sunday morning, she decided to choose an outfit she had been unable to wear since a record-shattering heat wave started its reign in Southern California last week.

She wore a pair of long pants.

For Forge, 25, the end of the heat wave meant having the luxury of going around in something other than shorts. “Last night was the first night I slept with a blanket and today is the first day I looked forward to going outside,” she said as she strolled through Exposition Park.

But the lower temperatures did not deter Southern Californians from descending on the oceanfront. About 500,000 people visited beaches stretching from Malibu to Cabrillo, according to Los Angeles County lifeguards.

County lifeguard Bill Powers, supervisor of a beach area stretching from Marina del Rey to Topanga Canyon, said he was glad to see the heat wave end. “When you’ve got two lifeguards looking at upwards of 7,000 people, lost kids whose parents you’re trying to locate (and) accidents on the bike path behind you, it’s hard,” he said. “Just having the breeze makes things a lot easier because people are less tense.”

Sunday had just enough warmth and cooling relief to satisfy lovers of both extremes. It wasstill warm enough for Valerie and John Krugh, members of the Alta Loma-based New Song Church, to be baptized in an outdoor hot tub in San Dimas without the managers having to turn on the heat.

And it was cool enough to give the Foster’s Freeze at the corner of 16th Street and Pico Boulevard its first slow day in almost a week, and for beach-goers to exchange their shorts and sandals for jeans, light jackets and bare feet.

Authorities said the heat took a lethal toll on the region before it receded. Police said a 56-year-old transient, identified as Phillip Cannon, died of heat exhaustion and dehydration in his car Friday in front of a Simi Valley restaurant. The heat may have also had a role in the death of Barbara Zavaleta, 50, who died of a heart attack at White Memorial Medical Center.