 Cal OES logo inside look oesnews.com I'm Brian May it is that time of year already just the sign of sprinklers can be some welcome relief from the heat California saw our first near record temperatures this week and our first excessive heat warning so what does that mean well it means extended periods of extremely hot temperatures and very little cooling relief overnight which leads to a high chance of heat stress or illness to the elderly kids and animals so how can you prepare for the heat well some simple ways are drinking lots of water where light colored clothes stay away from strenuous outdoor activities during the hottest times of the day check on the elderly kids and pets and try and find some place to cool off libraries and malls make great spots inside the National Weather Service office in Sacramento they keep a 24-7 watch on the forecast you know everyone is like oh this is so hot and I always joke that well you weren't you know you were yelling in May it's so wet and cold when some are gonna get here well it's here all jokes aside Michelle Mead gets very serious when it comes to warning people of the dangers that come with this extreme heat all activities outdoors you should either do early in the morning or after sunset and now that we're getting close to the summer solstice keep in mind sunset is close to 9 p.m. now it's hot outside so we want to go to the cool water but the water right now is only in the 50s and low 60s and that's about the temperature that folks can get hypothermia pretty quickly and one last but very important piece of advice as cliche as it sounds remember it really does only take a spark if there is red flag conditions out or fire weather watch don't do outdoor activities don't be mowing your lawn anything can spark just a mower blade on a rock can send a spark and you don't think anything of it next thing you know the field next door is on fire of course with the heat comes the increased threat of wildfires in California and to that end we are all going to be hearing a lot more about public safety power shutoffs are PSPS a public safety power shutoff is a preventative measure that the utilities take when there's forecasting for really extreme wind conditions and other types of weather that could be very favorable to fire conditions and in California we've seen some pretty catastrophic fires this is a step that they're taking hopefully it's a last step to prevent a wildfire being caused by down power lines or other pieces of equipment at the utility zone as far as what someone could expect with a public safety power shutoff those conditions are going to be different for each event so the power could be out for a matter of hours could also be out for a matter of days and what we're asking folks is to be prepared for that longer term power outage because you may not know until it's already happening how long that power could be out and they could potentially tell you a one-time frame and that could get extended with very short notice we're going to hear more about these public safety power shutoffs because it's a new step that the utilities are taking because a lot of the catastrophic fires recently have been caused by utility equipment in rural areas or in areas that are extreme or high fire risk we've got a lot more information about staying safe during extreme heat events you can go to call oes.ca.gov and look for the beat the heat town for all of us at call oes i'm brian may thanks for watching