Fire officials advise Mid-Missourians to take heat advisories seriously

Officials with Columbia Fire said talking about heat advisories can be a bit repetitive but it’s important for people in Mid-Missouri to take them seriously.

“I think it’s safe to say that every person that we run on, that has a heat emergency, didn’t think that they would have one that day. So it’s very common for people to think it won’t happen to them but it does; it can,” Brad Fraizer, the assistant fire chief said.

Fraizer said heat exhaustion signs are pale skin, excessive sweating, rapid heart rate and mild confusion.

“If you experience any of that, those symptoms, or you’re with someone that does, make sure you get to a cool area, drink some fluids and rest,” Fraizer said.

ABC 17 News checked with Boone County Fire, where officials say crews were dispatched to five heat-exposure calls since Monday.

Mitchel Smith, a resident of Columbia, said he chooses to walk his dogs at Bear Creek Trail in Columbia because it has a pond, so that his dogs can cool off in it.

“We (also) brought our cooler full of water for us and the dogs,” Smith said.

“I choose to come later in the evening, so the sun was not right over our head and the heat index wasn’t going to be as high and all of that,” Loren Howard said.