Ignorance, not extreme heat, killed a child on Phoenix's South Mountain

On Tuesday, a family visiting from out of state entered the Mormon Trailhead and hiked about a mile into South Mountain Park.

They began sometime at midmorning, according to media accounts, and pressed further into one of the largest municipal parks in the country. 

After hours in the sun, a 10-year-old child in that party succumbed to “heat-related” illness. The boy was airlifted out and taken by ground ambulance to the hospital.

He died later that night.

Heat deaths are a perennial tragedy in Phoenix

We see this same scenario play out every year in Arizona. 

Out-of-towners push off on treks in our mountain preserves not understanding how vulnerable they are to the Valley’s summer heat. 

I’ve written about it many times over several decades.

Often, they come from colder climes and are not acclimated to hot, dry conditions. 

On Tuesday, the temperature rose to 113 degrees, meaning most Arizonans knew to avoid the outdoors and its killer sun in daytime hours — between morning and night.

But an Arizona trail on a summer morning is a temptress to the uninitiated who know nothing about heat exposure and how too much sun can fatally damage the body’s vital organs.

How heat stroke shuts down the body

The deadly metric here is 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Mayo Clinic. 

When the body reaches such high temperatures, it redirects blood flow to the skin to try to cool itself, Ollie Jay, a professor of heat and health at the University of Sydney, told the Associated Press. 

The diversion carries blood and oxygen from the stomach and intestines, allowing toxins in and around the gut to leak into the circulatory system, he explained.

“That sets off a cascade of effects. Clotting around the body and multiple organ failure and, ultimately, death.”

Heat stroke attacks the brain, heart, kidneys and muscles, according to Mayo Clinic.

There's a reason everything is deserted

Visitors to Arizona often don’t know this, nor have they experienced — as many of us desert dwellers have — the first symptoms of over-exposure to the sun:

The nausea, the confusion, the rapid breathing, the flushed skin, that if not addressed with shade and water and lowering body temperature can become something worse: vomiting, delirium, a racing pulse. 

Drive a mile or two in summer in any of our Valley communities and you will see our knowledge on display. 

Our playgrounds are completely vacant. Under blue skies and sunshine, they glisten, but not a child or parent can be seen. 

Our baseball fields are empty, and our hiking trails are almost entirely deserted.   

We must warn our out-of-town guests

All of us as individuals and as a community have a responsibility to warn newcomers and visitors about our summer heat.

Our hotels and resorts need to constantly remind patrons of the danger. Arizonans should caution out-of-state relatives and friends and make sure they don’t engage in dangerous activities. 

At the Mormon Trailhead, there are giant signs stationed just off the parking lot warning hikers of how heat can kill, with tips on how to stay safe.

As an ER doctor:I've seen how Phoenix heat kills

But it’s not only out-of-towners that are vulnerable.

Other sun scenarios that end in death are also perennials in Arizona, as in the native Phoenician who believes he is so well acclimated to the heat he can tempt triple digits in the middle of the day. 

Phoenix residents also face growing risk

I did this once on June 27, 1990. It was the day after the hottest day in Phoenix history, when temperatures reached 122 degrees.

I hiked up what is today called Piestewa Peak. I didn’t get heat stroke, but I got an education. It was a stupid thing to have done. 

Every year, like out-of-towners, there are Phoenicians who think they are immune to the desert heat. And some take chances, as I did. Some die. I’ve written that story, too. 

Last year, 645 people died from heat-related causes in Maricopa County, according to the county Department of Public Health.

Sixty-five percent of those deaths involved substances, county health reports.

Eighty-percent of those who died were Maricopa County residents. 

With climate change and generational drought, things are likely to get worse in the future.

So understand, there is no greater antidote to deadly summer heat than knowledge.

The knowledge not to tempt it. 

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonrepublic.com.