Preparations For The Coming Cold Season Underway

EL PASO — Cold days have been hard to come by so farthis fall, butforecasters with the ABC 7 StormTRACKWeather teamare warning of some major changesin the next few days.

With temperatures reachinginto the low 70s onTuesday, itmay behard to grasp that it’s going to be cold thisThanksgiving weekend.But the high temperature on Thursday is expected toreach only the middle 50s — a 20 degree drop from the previous day. The arrival of colder weather has many local fire and safety authorities urging people to be prepared.

Lt. Mario Hernandez, a spokesmanfor the El Paso Fire Department, said the three most common victims of extreme weather are the elderly, the disabled and young children. Many people in those age groups aren’t awarethey’re cold, or can do much aboutstaying warm by themselvesif cold weathercomes.

Another health and fire hazard comes about when people ready their furnaces for the cold season by themselves.By not having the job professionally done, do-it-yourselfers put their families as risk for carbon monoxide poisoning. The gascan be deadly and most people don’t realize they are being poisoned until it is too late, Hernandez said.

“The symptoms resemble flu-like symptoms,” he said. “You get the headaches, feeling weak, nausea, the dizziness which are all flu-like symptoms, but the only difference with carbon monoxide is you don’t get a fever.”

Hernandez also urges residentsto use the “buddy system” and check in on friends and family members who may need a little extra help keeping warm.