June heat claims four victims

In what almost certainly will become Philadelphia's warmest June on record, heat has been blamed for contributing to four deaths in the city, the Health Department announced late this afternoon.

The bodies of two of the victims were discovered Sunday, and the two others earlier in the month, said department spokesman Jeff Moran. Neither the names nor addresses were disclosed.

A 50-year-old male who had a core body temperature of 105, the threshold for hyperthermia, was found June 3 at Eighth and Walnut Streets, Moran said.

The other three victims all were discovered inside homes in the far north and northwest sections of the city.

An 88-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman were found Sunday in separate first-floor bedrooms in which all the windows were closed. A box fan was operating in the 88-year-old's room, Moran said.

Earlier in the month, the body of a 77-year-old was found in a second-floor bedroom. Again, the windows were closed.

In compiling heat-fatality statistics, Philadelphia includes deaths in which heat is a contributing factor under a system started by former medical examiner Haresh Mirchandani.

Since investigators might not get to bodies for days, Mirchandani ordered them to look for clues, such as closed windows or the absence of fans and air conditioners.

That system became a source of controversy in 1993 when the city reported 118 heat-related deaths while other cities' death tolls were negligible. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention later determined that the Philadelphia method should be used everywhere.

The region is about to get a major break from the heat with a sequence of comfortable days and nights.

However, barring a sudden snowstorm, this month is about to become the warmest June in Philadelphia in the history of records dating to 1874.

Based on the forecast, the month would finish with an average temperature of 78.1. The standing record is 78.0, set in 1925.

When the temperature hit 92 this afternoon, it was the 15th time this month it had hit at least 90. That tied a record for the most 90-or-better days, set in 1943.

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