Following in extreme heat earlier this summer, Baltimore City trash and recycling crews may pause service Wednesday. [ ] The Baltimore Department of Health issued a Code Red extreme heat alert for Wednesday when the temperature in Baltimore from 77 at 6 a.m.
to 96 by noon and 101 around 3 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
The heat index, a measurement of how hot the air feels and how uncomfortable people are likely to be based on the temperature combined with the humidity, is expected to reach 106. “To protect our sanitation workers, crews will start earlier in cooler temps,” the Department of Public Works said on social media. “If it gets too hot, we’ll pause operations and resume when safe.
” The department added that trash, recycling and street sweeping would resume the next safe business day, but did not respond to a request for comment about a specific temperature threshold for work stoppages. On Aug. 2 when temperatures hit 99 degrees, 36-year-old DPW worker Ronald Silver II died on the job of hyperthermia on a city resident’s porch begging for water, according to the medical examiner.
In July before Silver’s death, from the city’s inspector general said DPW facilities and trucks had broken air conditioning and did not provide enough water, ice and fans to workers. Last week DPW officials over workplace safety..
