PHOENIX — A dangerous heat wave threatened a wide swath of the Southwest with potentially deadly temperatures in the triple digits on Saturday as some cooling centers extended their hours and emergency rooms prepared to treat more people with heat-related illnesses.
"Near record temperatures are expected this weekend!" the National Weather Service in Phoenix warned in a tweet, advising people to follow its safety tips such as drinking plenty of water and checking on relatives and neighbors.
"Don't be a statistic!" the weather service in Tucson advised, noting extreme heat can be deadly. "It CAN happen to YOU!"
Over 110 million people, or about a third of Americans, were under extreme heat advisories, watches and warnings Saturday as the blistering heat wave was forecast to get worse this weekend for Nevada, Arizona and California. Temperatures in some desert areas were predicted to soar past 120 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and remain in the 90s overnight.
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People who are homeless try to cool down Friday with chilled water outside the Justa Center, a day center for homeless people 55 years and older, in downtown Phoenix.
Around 200 hydration stations distributing bottles of water and cooling centers where potentially thousands of people can rest in air-conditioned spaces opened Saturday in public spaces like libraries, churches and businesses around the Phoenix area.
Charles Sanders spent Friday afternoon with his Chihuahua mix Babygirl at the air-conditioned Justa Center, which offers daytime services to older homeless people in downtown Phoenix. It's also serving as a hydration station, distributing free bottles of water.
Because of funding and staffing limitations, the center can only stay open until 5:30 p.m., so Sanders, a 59-year-old who uses a wheelchair, has spent the sweltering nights with his pet in a tattered tent behind the building.
"I've been here for four summers now and it's the worst so far," said Sanders, a former welder originally from Denver.
David Hondula, chief heat officer for the City of Phoenix, said Friday that because of the health risks some centers were extending hours that are sometimes abbreviated because of limited volunteers and money.
"This weekend there will be some of the most serious and hot conditions we've ever seen," he said.
He said just one location, the Brian Garcia Welcome Center for homeless people in downtown Phoenix, planned to be open 24 hours and direct people to shelters and other air-conditioned spaces for the night.
Charles Sanders, 59, and his dog Babygirl cool off Friday inside the Justa Center in downtown Phoenix.
In Las Vegas, casinos offered respite from the heat for many. Air-conditioned libraries, police station lobbies and other places from Texas to California planned to be open to the public to offer relief for at least part of the day.
Emergency room doctors in Las Vegas treated more people for heat illness as the heat wave threatened to break the city's all-time record high of 117 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend.
Dr. Ashkan Morim, who works in the ER at Dignity Health Siena Hospital in suburban Henderson, Nevada, spoke Friday of treating tourists this week who spent too long drinking by pools and became severely dehydrated, and a stranded hiker who needed liters of fluids to regain his strength.
In New Mexico's largest city, Albuquerque, splash pads will be open for extended hours and many public pools were offering free admission. In Boise, Idaho, churches and other nonprofit groups were offering water, sunscreen and shelter.
In Southern California, temperatures soared into the triple digits in inland areas, and a ridge of high pressure was expected to keep its hold on the region for a couple of weeks.
By mid Saturday afternoon, it was 122 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley, California, where forecasters said the temperature could hit 130 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend. The hottest temperature recorded there was 134 F in July 1913, according to the National Park Service.
A firefighter sprays water on flames along Gilman Springs Road during the Rabbit Fire late Friday in Moreno Valley, Calif.
In Lancaster and Palmdale, north of Los Angeles, temperatures hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit, National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford said . In Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, the thermometer cleared triple digits in some areas.
In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass announced the city opened cooling centers where residents can escape the heat.
The hot, dry conditions sparked a series of blazes in Southern California southeast of Los Angeles, where firefighters Saturday battled three brush fires amid blistering heat and low humidity in sparsely populated, hilly areas.
Phoenix on Saturday saw the city's 16th consecutive day of 110 F or higher temperatures, hitting that mark before noon and putting it on track to beat the longest measured stretch of such heat. The record was 18 days in 1974.
By late afternoon, the temperature in Phoenix hit 118 F, breaking the daily record set on July 15, 1998, of 117 F, the National Weather Service in Phoenix tweeted. The normal high for the date is 107 F.
The heat is expected to continue into this coming week.
The Southern Nevada Health District said seven people died related to heat since April 11.
Arizona's Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, reported this week that so far this year there have been 12 confirmed heat-associated deaths going back to April, half of them people who were homeless. Another 55 deaths are under investigation.
Pet owners in the Southwest were urged to keep their animals mostly inside.
Swimmers enjoy the sea Saturday at Glyfada suburb in Athens, Greece.
On the other side of the Atlantic, scorching temperatures across Europe forced the closure of the Acropolis in Athens for a second day as officials warned of even hotter weather ahead, when the mercury is forecast to top 104 degrees Fahrenheit in several popular Mediterranean tourist destinations.
Czech temperatures soared to a new record high for any July 15. The thermometer hit 101.5 F at Plzen-Bolevec in western Czechia. European countries farther north also sweltered on Saturday.
