NORTH BEND—
High temperature records are shattered all over Puget Sound as the area is gripped by a heat wave. Some cities like Redmond hit 109, in Auburn it topped out at 106.If you were looking for an air conditioning unit or fan to cool off in North Bend from the oppressive heat you were out of luck according to Ace Hardware Manager Kevin Crabtree.
"Fans I know we had 2 or 3 pallets of box fans and other models we have, they were all gone in 2 or 3 days," said Crabtree.
To escape the 100 plus temperatures Jeff Glaser and his daughter found a way to rig their own version of air conditioning.
"A spray bottle because we have a fan already, thought we could spray in the house," said Glaser.
But, at the Mt. Si Tavern customers like Fred Freiss were flocking in to try out their new misting machine to find some cool relief.
"I think it's great, I could stand under here all night, it's too hot," said Freiss.
While the heat can be a pain it can also be very dangerous. Hot and dry weather contributed to a brush fire today on Interstate 5 on the Southcenter Hill. The Washington State Department of Transportation says a cigarette thrown from a vehicle sparked the fire. Traffic was snarled for hours while fire crews doused the flames.
It wasn't the smoke from this house fire in West Seattle that was causing problems for fire fighters it was the heat from the weather. Battalion Chief Ron Mondragon with the Seattle Fire Department says several fire fighters were treated by paramedics for heat exhaustion due to wearing all of their heavy fire gear to battle the blaze.
"Very concerned about dehydration, heat exhaustion, we fully recognize we will have to double our staffing on every significant incident," said Mondragon.
Over in Redmond today the mercury topped 109 on a marquee but it didn't stop Kathy Scott from taking a 4 mile walk in the blistering heat.
"It's gonna be a hot walk today, it's good though," said Scott.
Up the road in Fall City inner tubers and rafters found a relaxing way to deal with the rising mercury by floating down the Snoqualmie River. It may be a great way to beat the heat, but, fire officials urge all swimmers to use caution when swimming or tubing down river.
