Heat Strokes

A lecture and slide presentation on the effects of heat stroke will be sponsored by the city and Fairfax High School on Wednesday in Hall A at Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd. The presentation, which will start at 9:30 a.m., will show residents how to prepare themselves for summer heat by understanding and preventing heat strokes.

A 16-year old football player who collapsed in August during practice at Arnold O. Beckman High School in Irvine died of heatstroke, the Orange County coroner's office said Thursday. Kenny Wilson, a 6-foot-2, 276-pound junior lineman, fell ill toward the end of 2 1/2 hours of conditioning drills that began at 8:30 a.m. Aug. 17. Officials with the Tustin Unified School District said the heat-related death could prompt policy changes for athletic practices.

IT'S NEARLY NOON, AND THE MORNING'S HIKERS scramble out of the baking inner canyon, wheezing and dripping. In a room a few hundred yards from the South Rim, supervising ranger Marc Yeston touches a green pen to a wall map and traces a long, wriggling path. Then he makes a triangle. Here, he says, is the spot where they found Margaret Bradley, a 24-year-old University of Chicago medical student and marathoner.

The second San Joaquin Valley farmworker in a year has died of heat exposure in triple-digit temperatures, sparking renewed calls from labor leaders for worker safety regulations in extreme heat. Witnesses said Salud Zamudio Rodriguez, 42, was picking bell peppers in Arvin, Calif., south of Bakersfield, in 105-degree heat Wednesday when he complained of feeling ill, according to Lupe Martinez, a vice president of United Farm Workers of America.

Unlike many farm workers who come from Mexico to toil under the San Joaquin Valley sun, Luis Angel Valdivia wasn't pushed north by desperation. He had a decent job back home and the comfort of a tight-knit family. But he was the youngest child, an adventurer from age 12, and so he handed $1,500 to a coyote last winter and headed to his "great vision" on this side of the border.

Compared to the rest of the nation, Orange County has experienced a mild summer so far. But when the next heat wave does strike, health officials said, they expect many residents to place themselves at risk by refusing to change their behavior. When the mercury climbs into the 90s and above, people run the risk of dehydration and even heat stroke if they don't drink more fluids, reduce outdoor activities, wear lighter clothing and seek air-conditioned places to spend their time.

A hiker from England collapsed and died as he tried to hike out of the Grand Canyon in 113-degree heat. Avik Chakravarty, 28, and another hiker had started a 17-mile hike to the bottom of the canyon and back. They reached Phantom Ranch at the canyon's bottom in late afternoon and were advised by a ranger not to begin their climb out until later because of the heat, park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge said. They headed out anyway, and Chakravarty collapsed about three miles from Phantom Ranch.

Dustin and Devin Ducker were laid to rest Thursday in tiny white caskets two days after they died side by side, buckled into their car seats in the back of their mother's sweltering car. Investigators said their mother, Jennie Bain, was partying with four men in a motel room, had too much to drink and fell asleep as the temperature inside the car climbed as high as 115 degrees. Dustin, 1, and Devin, about 2, died of hyperthermia, or overheating, autopsies showed.

A people toughened against the icy reign of winter, Midwesterners found themselves staggered from the other extreme Friday, reeling under a heat wave that has sparked a round of record 100-degree temperatures. The heat began spreading to the East, where temperatures Friday were already into the mid-90s in many cities.

So you think it's hot? Just be glad you don't have to stand on a hot tar roof, lifting heavy materials dozens of feet above the ground with absolutely no shade in sight. In an informal survey of the "hottest" jobs in the sweltering summer heat, roofers topped the list, followed by other construction workers, dry-cleaning employees--and Mickey Mouse.

A hiker from England collapsed and died as he tried to hike out of the Grand Canyon in 113-degree heat. Avik Chakravarty, 28, and another hiker had started a 17-mile hike to the bottom of the canyon and back. They reached Phantom Ranch at the canyon's bottom in late afternoon and were advised by a ranger not to begin their climb out until later because of the heat, park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge said. They headed out anyway, and Chakravarty collapsed about three miles from Phantom Ranch.

The Orange County district attorney's office will not press charges against an Anaheim man whose infant daughter died after he left her in a hot minivan this month, authorities said Thursday. Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Simmons said that in the case of John Michael Dunton, "there was no evidence and no facts to support anything other than that he just forgot." For the case to be considered criminal, Simmons said, "it's got to be more than just a mistake caused by inattention or forgetfulness.

Unlike many farm workers who come from Mexico to toil under the San Joaquin Valley sun, Luis Angel Valdivia wasn't pushed north by desperation. He had a decent job back home and the comfort of a tight-knit family. But he was the youngest child, an adventurer from age 12, and so he handed $1,500 to a coyote last winter and headed to his "great vision" on this side of the border.

IT'S NEARLY NOON, AND THE MORNING'S HIKERS scramble out of the baking inner canyon, wheezing and dripping. In a room a few hundred yards from the South Rim, supervising ranger Marc Yeston touches a green pen to a wall map and traces a long, wriggling path. Then he makes a triangle. Here, he says, is the spot where they found Margaret Bradley, a 24-year-old University of Chicago medical student and marathoner.

The calendar may say October but the thermometer still can scream August. Hike a steep trail on a hot fall day without proper hydration and nutrition, and it may be the last time you lace up your hiking boots. Death by heatstroke is rare, but it happens. The death last month of a 22-year-old Ventura man while hiking on a day when temperatures reached the high 80s in the Rancho Sierra Vista area of the Santa Monica Mountains shows that heatstroke can strike regardless of age.

He drank plenty of water and took frequent breaks while hiking the five miles up Old Boney Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains. Yet on the way down, John Andrew Doyle, 22 and healthy, collapsed and later died of heatstroke. Doyle, a recent college graduate and novice hiker, was accompanied by two colleagues with more experience. The trio planned a 10-mile round-trip trek from the trail head in Newbury Park beginning at about 11 a.m. on a hot and sunny Sept. 20.

Actor Martin Lawrence was in serious but stable condition and breathing without a ventilator Tuesday as he continued his recovery from a coma triggered by a weight-loss jog in summer heat. Lawrence, who had been near death after suffering heat exhaustion and hyperthermia on Aug. 22, was "alert and responding to commands," according to a statement from his publicist, Kim Jones. "He's doing great," she said Tuesday. His prognosis was changed from guarded to good.

Editor's note: Lonnie White, a staff writer and former USC receiver, can appreciate the rigors of an NFL training camp. Here are his recollections from the summer 10 years ago spent in the New Orleans Saints' camp. * I never met Korey Stringer, but I felt as if I knew him when it was released that he died of heatstroke Wednesday, one day after collapsing at practice during training camp with the Minnesota Vikings.

In what authorities described Sunday as a rare and tragic occurrence, a young Ventura man died of heatstroke after collapsing during a hike on the popular but rigorous Boney Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains. Despite drinking plenty of water and taking frequent breaks, John Andrew Doyle, 22, collapsed and went into cardiac arrest on his descent from the peak about 5 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.