[California] Frugality, poverty, senility claimed lives in heat wave

from KESQ

FRESNO, Calif. An analysis of deaths in the Central Valley has found that frugality and senility caused a numerous fatalities during a record heat wave earlier this summer.
According to an investigation by reporters at the Fresno Bee, many deaths were preventable. Two-thirds of the 36 fatalities were people 65 or older. Twice as many men as women died. Only one was a field worker.

Several victims were so frugal or impoverished that they broiled rather than run their air conditioners. Many were elderly people who lived alone, and several were shut-ins who had mental illnesses or senility.

The heat wave was the Central Valley's hottest in nearly a century. For 12 days starting in late July, temperatures were one-hundred-and-five degrees or higher, including five days of temperatures in Fresno that were one-hundred-twelve degrees or higher.

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