It’s been a record-breaking summer around the world and in the US in terms of heat. Where I live we’ve mostly been spared, but because I’m in the PNW I know that “smoke season”–that new West Coast mainstay combining high temps with hazy, hazardous air–will be with us from August to late October. The heat has been especially brutal in the Southwest this year. Temperatures in Phoenix Arizona have exceeded 110 degrees Fahreinheit for 26 days straight. Extreme heat is a health hazard on its own, but if you happen to fall on hot pavement, you could burn your skin. That’s happening in Arizona–people are getting first and second degree burns and even needing to go to the hospital.

Temperatures in Arizona have climbed as high as 119 degrees — superheating the ground so intensely that people are suffering burns from coming into contact with it.

And in Maricopa County, some people have even been hospitalized from burns they sustained from falling on the ground.

Every bed at the Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise Health is full, Dr. Kevin Foster, director of burn services, told CNN — and one-third of the patients were injured by falling outside on the hot pavement.

“Summers are our busy season, so we anticipate that this sort of thing is going to happen. But this is really unusual — the number of patients that we’re seeing and the severity of injuries — the acuity of injuries is much higher,” Dr Foster told CNN.

Temperatures of 118 degrees are high enough to burn the skin, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, with blistering and second-degree burns being suffered at 131 degrees.

“The temperature of asphalt and pavement and concrete and sidewalks in Arizona on a warm sunny day or summer afternoon is 180 degrees sometimes. I mean, it’s just a little below boiling, so it’s really something,” Foster told CNN.

[From People]

I slipped and fell outdoors two years ago and broke my kneecap. I was stuck on the ground for a couple minutes before some very kind people pulled me up onto a chair. I dread to think what might have happened if the ground beneath me was 180 degrees. This kind of health hazard seems likely to affect the unhoused more than other populations, as they will have a harder time avoiding hot pavement. I hope there are air-conditioned shelters available in Phoenix, and cities across America should start prioritizing cooling centers if they aren’t already. Hot pavement is also bad for pets and animals–if the sidewalk or pavement is too hot for bare feet, it’s too hot for dogs, coyotes, or any other animal that isn’t well-adapted to hot surfaces. It’s really scary that the ground itself is becoming hazardous in some places because of extreme heat. Meanwhile, fossil fuel companies have quietly abandoned their climate pledges. I’ve been feeling a lot of eco-grief lately and I know I’m not alone. But it feels better to cry about it than to live in denial about what’s happening.

Photos credit: Balazs Simon on Pexels and Sam Williams on Unsplash