Las Vegas man without air conditioning succumbs to heat wave

Triple-digit heat enveloping the Las Vegas Valley appeared to claim its first victim Saturday.

A man in his 80s didn’t have air conditioning in his house and went into cardiac arrest, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

Paramedics said his frail medical condition, combined with the heat that tied a record high of 115 degrees, might have exacerbated the situation.

The Clark County coroner will determine cause of death.

Another man, also in his 80s, was hospitalized in serious condition Saturday after he drove several hours without an air conditioner in his car. He was on his way from Northern Nevada to southern Arizona when he suddenly felt sick, stopped the car, then dialed 911 on U.S. Highway 95.

“The paramedics said that he was suffering from true heatstroke,” Szymanski said.

He did not provide the identities or addresses of either victim, citing privacy law.

The heat wave has sent more than 40 other people to hospitals in Las Vegas since it arrived Friday, but no other life-threatening injuries were reported.

“We will probably start to see a rise in calls Sunday and Monday as the event prolongs,” Szymanski said in a statement. “People’s bodies will be more agitated the longer the event lasts and people may require medical assistance.”

Thirty-four people attending the Warped Tour in the Silverton parking lot were hospitalized Friday afternoon for heat-related injuries when temperatures soared to 115 and tied the city’s record for the date set in 1994, authorities said.

Another 172 attendees at the outdoor concert at the Silverton were treated for heat-related problems at the scene.

The heat also brought power outages to the northwest Las Vegas Valley on Saturday.

More than 130 NV Energy customers experienced power outages for more than an hour near Ann Road and Allen Lane, according to NV Energy.

The outages started at 2:20 p.m. Power was restored to the area at 3:40 p.m.

NV Energy said it was caused by equipment failure due to the heat.

The National Weather Service said temperatures peaked at 115 degrees around 4 p.m., matching the record-high set in 1994.

The temperature was recorded at the weather service’s official monitoring site at McCarran International Airport. Other areas of the valley could have exceeded that temperature.

Meteorologist John Salmen said unexpected cloud coverage prevented the valley from reaching the 118-degree weather that was forecast earlier in the week.

“A primary reason we didn’t meet it was because we got more cloud coverage than we expected. It tends to reflect sunlight back up so we couldn’t reach our full potential,” he said. “Without it, we probably would have reached 117 degrees.”

Mount Charleston saw more than just cloud coverage Saturday afternoon. A lightning storm created two small fires around 3:45 p.m., Salmen said.

“The storm was rather short-lived, but it brought traces of rain,” he said.

Fire officials didn’t return phone calls seeking more details.

Temperatures for Sunday and Monday are expected to set records of 118 degrees.

Record highs for these days are 115 and 116 respectively, according to the weather service. Las Vegas’ all-time high is 117.

Saturday’s high in Nevada was 121 degrees in Laughlin, 90 miles south of Las Vegas.

To the north, Saturday’s high of 102 degrees in Reno broke the city’s record for the date (100) set in 1972.

Friday’s high of 103 degrees in Reno broke its record of 100 degrees for the date set in 2010.

The heat prompted the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to install sprinklers in outside pens of the largest wild horse adoption facility in the country, located 20 miles northeast of Reno.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact reporter Tom Ragan at tragan@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512. Contact reporter Caitlyn Belcher at cbelcher@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0264.