TAMPA, Fla. — With the high heat and humidity in the Tampa Bay area, people whose job requires them to be outside or work in the soaring temperatures are sharing what they do to stay cool.
Think of linemen, construction crews, or even airport workers out on the tarmac.
"I’m in charge of a lot of the painting out here on the airfields, on the runways and taxiways. You know, the center lines, the taxiway lanes, and then we also do landscaping, which is all the mowing on the airfield,” said Angel Rosa.
ABC Action News met Rosa at Tampa International Airport while he was busy painting edge lines and markings on a runway.
On Wednesday afternoon, a handheld thermometer clocked the ground outside the airport at about 103. But with years of experience, Rosa knows exactly how to protect himself.
“We stay hydrated. We have our cooler with water all the time,” said Rosa. “We have these little towels that we wet. The hat, these are cooling hats that we wet, and they also keep us cool, and we just got to stay hydrated out here because it gets very hot."
From the friendly skies to the fire station, it’s any firefighter's job to run to the heat.
"You put on 80 to 100 pounds of gear and tools, and it just wears on your body that much more,” said John Klinefelter, a Division Chief with Clearwater Fire and Rescue.
Klinefelter weighed in on what they do to keep their crews safe on hot summer days.
"We're sending more personnel to some of our bigger incidents so that we're trading them out a little bit sooner. We’re making sure that we have rehab set up for our crews to be able to kind of cycle them through, cool them down, get them out of their gear a little bit to make sure that they are out and fully hydrated,” said Klinefelter.
No matter what you do, health officials hope people look out for each other to help reduce the risk of heat-related illnesses and emergencies.
