Valley Records Fall as Heat Wave Rolls In

Strolling outside to chat with the pool boy turned into a medical emergency for Adele Bogner, one of the first victims of the wilting heat wave that barbecued the San Fernando Valley on Thursday.

Bogner, 74, was outside for a short while around 1:20 p.m. before the stifling heat took its toll and she fell ill. When the ambulance arrived a few minutes later, she was sprawled on the couch, out of breath and with a dangerously low pulse.

“I should have known better,” Bogner told the rescue crew, just before being taken to the emergency room at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Panorama City.

Bogner escaped serious harm, but social workers throughout Los Angeles spent the day scrambling to make sure more of the city’s half-million elderly residents did not fall victim to the summer sun, which set record temperatures in parts of the Valley. The heat wave is expected to linger for a week.

On Thursday, the mercury hit 108 degrees in Chatsworth, beating the previous high of 102 set in 1980, said Wes Etheredge of WeatherData Inc., which provides weather data for The Times.

Burbank topped out at 103, squeaking by the old record of 102 set in 1936. Woodland Hills was hotter, at 104, but that fell far short of the blistering record of 115 recorded in 1960, Etheredge said.

Alarmed by dozens of deaths in heat-stricken Texas, where many of the victims were elderly, workers at the Los Angeles city Department of Aging began calling on more than 6,500 older residents throughout the city and distributed a list of hot weather safety tips to the 2,300 who receive lunch through the Meals on Wheels program.

Agency General Manager Ann Smith urged the elderly to stay out of the blazing heat and, whenever possible, to take advantage of air conditioning, either at home or at malls, libraries or movie theaters. Those needing assistance should call the Department of Aging at (800) 510-2020 or (800) 834-4777, she said.

On Thursday, City Councilman Joel Wachs also called on meter readers, mail carriers and concerned neighbors to check on the aged in their communities, and said he plans to ask the Department of Water and Power today to expand assistance to low-income residents.

Despite the searing heat, the DWP plans to continue shutting off power to residents who haven’t paid their bills. But agency spokeswoman Darlene Battle said utility workers will do their best to make sure the power stays on for elderly and disabled customers, even if they are late with their payments.

The hot weather is expected to continue for another week, and temperatures may reach more record numbers before dipping a few degrees after Sunday, said meteorologist Bill Hoffer of the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

The elderly are among those facing the greatest health risks. Many live alone, hampered by health problems or unaware they may be in danger of heat stroke.

“It can really sneak up on you,” said Dr. Rick L. Smith, medical director of Grancell Village at the Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda. “It’s a vicious cycle, because when they are dehydrated, the get weakened . . . and they tend not to get up to drink more.”

Marianne Ybarra, a case worker at the city’s senior center in Van Nuys, said there are too many elderly residents at risk in her area to keep tabs on, and that concerns her. Although many senior citizens have air conditioning, some won’t turn it on because they can’t afford the high power bills, Ybarra said.

“I go into a lot of homes, and it’s very warm. They’d rather run a fan than turn on their air conditioning. They just don’t have the money,” she said.

Others refuse to call the city for help, afraid social workers will force them into a nursing home, Ybarra said. Only when they get in trouble do they call for help. Some become so weak they may never call, she said.

“People have a denial syndrome, that it won’t happen to them,” said Capt. Jim Black of the Los Angeles city fire station in North Hollywood. “There’s not much we can do to prepare. All we can do is answer the bell.”

Most people in the Valley survived the initial blast of the heat wave unscathed, although the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center treated one 50-year-old man for heat stroke, hospital officials said.

Summer school students at Calvert Street Elementary in Woodland Hills have gone without air conditioning during these heat intensive days--even though the school has air conditioners--because they are not yet completely hooked up.

Officials say relief is on the way. Acting Principal Natalie Messinger said the air conditioning will be turned on within a week.

But Broc Coward, field deputy for Los Angeles Unified School District board member Valerie Field, said the air conditioning will be turned on by Monday. Field’s district includes Chatsworth, Northridge and parts of Canoga Park, Woodland Hills and Tarzana.

Most senior centers operated by the city Department of Recreation and Parks will remain open over the weekend to accommodate seniors seeking relief, and will provide free soft drinks and water at the centers and for people to take home, said general manager Jackie Tatum.

Mario Matute, project director at the San Fernando Gardens public housing facility in Pacoima, said those units don’t have air conditioning, but staff members are keeping a constant vigil to ensure elderly residents are safe. Of the 2,000 low-income residents, about 90 are elderly.

“We’re taking them water and soft drinks, and giving them phone numbers to call if they need help,” Matute said.

Despite the heat wave, health officials said California will probably not experience the fatalities reported in other areas of the country hit by high temperatures--primarily Texas and the South, where 50 people have died from heat-related ailments in the past week.

In Southern California, people are better prepared for summer heat waves and, unlike Texas, the humidity in Southern California is relatively mild, said Tom Sinks of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The combination of heat and humidity make perspiring less effective, robbing the body of its natural cooling mechanism, said Sinks, an epidemiologist.

However, Sinks cautioned that it’s too early to know how Los Angeles will fare as the heat wave continues.

“You wouldn’t expect to see much going on the first day,” Sink said. “On the third or fourth day of an extended heat wave, you might.”

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Times staff writer Amy Oakes contributed to this story.