WASHOUGAL — Madison Reaves spun her ladybug umbrella while running through water and jumping from puddle to puddle Thursday afternoon at Hamllik Park.
The Washougal 6-year-old wasn’t trying to block out the water as much as the sun, which was sending down hot rays to the 30-plus kids playing in the park.
Clark County is under an excessive-heat warning from the National Weather Service in Portland through 9 p.m. Saturday. Thursday’s high temperatures topped out around 100 degrees throughout the region, and the same is forecast for Friday, according to the weather service.
Vancouver’s high of 98 degrees Thursday sets an Aug. 18 record for the city, surpassing its previous high of 96 from 2015.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources issued a statewide burn ban on Wednesday through Sept. 30 on all state parks and forestland. Clark County Fire Marshal Jon Dunaway sent out a release Thursday to let residents know that recreational fires are prohibited throughout unincorporated Clark County.
Due to the heat wave, the Camas-Washougal Fire Department set up a cooling play area for kids at Hamllik Park by attaching a hose to a nearby fire hydrant and setting up a sprinkler in a grassy field.
“It was cold and refreshing,” Madison said.
She has been going to the fire department’s cooling activities for the last few years, and mostly pranced around twirling the umbrella on Thursday.
Other kids there on Thursday jumped through the sprinkler, walked around the sprinkler and let water softly rain down on them, stuck their heads directly over the blasts of water, rode bikes through the puddles and tossed their slippers in the stream of water and watched them shoot up in the air.
Setting up an outdoor play area to help kids deal with the heat is something the Camas-Washougal Fire Department tries to do every year, firefighter Ron Nickles said. Thursday was the second time this year the department has done it.
“It’s a two-way street between us and the city,” Nickles said. “It depends on the city water supply and if there’s a drought. We have to get the city’s permission to do it, and sometimes we ask them if we can do it, and other times they ask us. This year, they asked us to do it.”
The firefighters bring more than a sprinkler, too. A crowd of kids found the fire department’s tent, stocked with cool treats.
“I liked the Otter Pops the most,” said Madison, who enjoyed a “green flavored” treat.
The fire officials bring along Otter Pops and bottles of water when they do the cooling events. Nickles said the biggest thing people can do to stay safe in extreme heat is hydrate. Most of the calls the department fields during heat waves are to assist people who overexerted themselves and weren’t properly hydrated.
Clark County Animal Control also gets a lot of calls in times of extreme heat from people who see animals in vehicles with the windows up or open only a tiny amount. Paul Scarpelli, animal control manager, said if people come across an animal in a car, they should check the health of the animal. A panting or barking animal is OK, he said. A more lethargic animal might be in trouble.
He recommended that if the car is parked outside of a store or establishment, go inside and ask someone who works there to make an announcement looking for the car’s owner.
Scarpelli also wants pet owners to make sure their pets have water and access to food and shade. It also helps to have them licensed, in case an animal gets free, whether it’s from a house or a hot car, although he doesn’t think animals should be out during heat waves.
“This is not the time of year to be taking your animals with you,” Scarpelli said. “If you need to bring your animal with you, do it in the morning when it’s cool.”
