DICKSON CITY, Pa. — It's certainly construction season all over northeastern Pennsylvania. On Main Street in Dickson City, the crew from Kuharchik Construction is replacing and improving traffic signals at the intersections. They know folks are anxious to have this project be complete, so the work must go on, even during a heatwave.
"I try to plan things where we do more strenuous things in the morning and lighten up in the afternoon just to get through it," said foreman Matthew Granteed. "You kind of get used to it a little bit."
The crew here says they know to stay hydrated and listen to their bodies. They also say they are thankful for the little bit of shade the nearby buildings provide and for their bosses who are looking out for them.
"They actually called us earlier and told us to make sure we stay hydrated and make
sure we don't overexert because they don't want to see anyone get hurt or pass out. They don't want anyone to go to the hospital," said ground hand Dave Granteed.
Zack Savage owns his own landscaping business, and he learned how important it is to stay safe in the heat the hard way. He has suffered from heat exhaustion three times while on the job.
"We deal with the rain; we deal with this intense heat. We also run equipment, so safety is our first priority when it comes to our work. It's keeping ourselves safe so we can continue to provide quality work to our customers," said Savage.
Savage is putting his jobs on hold for right now and will pick back up Thursday morning.
"Intense. We were only able to get a couple of hours in. Being out in the direct sunlight was just too much. You're not even able to keep water in. it's coming out of you as soon as you're taking it in. it's hard to find shade. We're working with rocks, different materials that hold the heat. It's like we're working in an oven. Just standing here right now underneath these trees, we're in a shaded area; I'm sweating profusely."
And hitting 90 degrees for the third day in a row in Lackawanna County officially makes it a heatwave, the second heatwave this month. Heatwaves in June are pretty uncommon, but as we enter July, this is just a reminder that we had 16 days above 90 degrees last July.