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TFD responds to 58 heat-related calls in one week

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Posted at 4:45 PM, Jun 21, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-22 01:18:24-04

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — This month more than half of the heat-related calls pouring into the Tucson Fire Department happened in the last seven days.

“The Tucson Fire Department has responded to about 90 heat-related calls, but in the last seven days we've responded to 58 calls,” said Micahel Colaianni.

Tucson Fire said a majority of the heat-related calls are right here in the downtown area and it’s impacting some of our community’s most vulnerable.

Firefighters are seeing the homeless community the most and the calls are coming from concerned members in our area.

"The ones that really are struggling with this the most [are] those without a home. You know it's really tough to just be outside during all of this, which is why we just want to encourage people to, you know, help those if they can get them some water, get to a cooling center,” said Colaianni.

TFD and other city partners are also working to be proactive to protect the homeless community from flooding.

"Our Tucson Fire recruiting class, our newest class, will be actually out in the field next week. They helped our TC-3 team and the homeless outreach team at the Tucson Police Department clear out a huge wash at St. Mary's and the I-10,” said Colaianni.

Weather-related called aren’t just impacting homeless people. Tucson Fire tells native-Arizonans not to discount the heat because you never know how your body will react.

“Drink a lot of water and staying in, knowing what the weather's going to be like, and what precautions you need to take ahead of time are three huge steps you can take to keep yourself safe,” he said.