Adelaide man Travis Mellor in hospital after collapsing in extreme heat
ADELAIDE faces both the prospect of the highest temperature recorded in December on Saturday and the promise of a merciful cool change to end four consecutive days over 40C.
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ADELAIDE faces both the prospect of the highest temperature recorded in December on Saturday and the promise of a merciful cool change to end four consecutive days over 40C.
The city is forecast to cook at 44C on Saturday and the mercury could well slip above the record mark of 44.2C, set at the West Tce weather station on December 31, 1904.
As the state and much of Australia swelters, another young tradie has been taken to hospital with heat stroke as a 17-year-old apprentice who collapsed on Wednesday was brought out of an induced coma.
Sporting events have been cancelled, the entire state is under total fire ban and thousands of people have lost power, but relief should be only hours away.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Simon Timcke said a slow-moving high-pressure system continued to sit over the Tasman Sea and push a northerly airstream over SA, but a change is coming.
“There is a trough moving into the west of the state, which will cause the winds to strengthen as it approaches, so (today) will be very hot and much windier than the last few days,” he said.
“But the cool change will sweep over the city in the evening and very early hours of Sunday morning and we’ll see a big decrease in temperature.”
RSPCA South Australia has issued a warning to pet owners not to leave animals in cars and watch for signs of heat stress.
Thoroughbred Racing SA cancelled Saturday’s meeting at Morphettville and the South Australian Cricket Association cancelled all matches scheduled for Saturday.
From 8am on Thursday until 8am Friday, 62 people went to South Australian hospitals with heat-related problems. Of those, 21 were admitted.
More than 3700 people lost power on Friday, with outages in Nuriootpa, Aberfoyle Park, Leighton, Port Pirie and the city.
Total fire bans have been declared in all of the state’s 15 districts.
Lightning strikes have sparked fires across the state’s west, northwest, Mid North and Upper South-East.
The Country Fire Service was responding to a number of grass and crop fires.
The CFS said the severe fire conditions mean these fires could “quickly establish and present a threat to communities”.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for damaging wind for people in Eastern Eyre Peninsula, Flinders, Mid North, Riverland, Northwest Pastoral, and parts of the West Coast, Yorke Peninsula, Murray Lands and Northeast Pastoral districts.
“Communities are reminded a fire in their area could result in a loss of power, communications and water, and hazardous driving conditions, which may affect your options for remaining safe,” the CFS said, in a statement.
“People in these regions are urged to ensure their bushfire survival plans are prepared, to stay informed and observe their local conditions.”
The warning came as an apprentice fights for his life after collapsing while working in scorching heat and another young tradie has been taken to hospital with heatstroke.
Travis Mellor, 17, was sent to hospital after he collapsed while working in 41C heat at a building site at Magill on Wednesday afternoon.
He is in a critical condition in the Royal Adelaide Hospital with concerns of kidney failure.
On Friday, the SA Ambulance Service also took a man, aged in his 20s, to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
He was suffering from heatstroke while working on the new RAH site further up North Tce.
On Saturday, the temperature is forecast to hit 44C in Adelaide, with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm in the afternoon and evening.
Winds will be northwest to northeasterly 25 to 40km/h tending northwesterly in the middle of the day then shifting south to southwesterly 15 to 20km/h in the evening.
Total fire bans have been declared for Saturday in the following districts:
Northwest Pastoral — Severe
Northeast Pastoral — Severe
West Coast — Extreme
Eastern Eyre Peninsula — Severe
Lower Eyre Peninsula — Extreme
Flinders — Severe
Mid North — Extreme
Mount Lofty Ranges — Extreme
Adelaide Metropolitan — Severe
Yorke Peninsula — Extreme
Kangaroo Island — Severe
Riverland — Severe
Murraylands — Severe
Upper South East — Severe
Lower South East — Extreme
On Friday, temperatures in Adelaide hit 40.8C just before 2pm, after a string of days in the 40s and high 30s.
In Tarcoola, north of the Eyre Peninsula, the mercury hit 45.1C at 1.55pm.
SA Health said 62 people had been hospitalised for heat-related cases between 8am Thursday and 8am Friday, bringing the total number of hospitalisations to 108 in the last three days.
An SA Ambulance spokesman said they had attended 103 more heat-related incidents between 8am Thursday and 8am Friday compared to the same time last year.
“We’re seeing a lot of heat exhaustion, dehydration ... particularly on day three when things like houses are starting to heat up,” intensive care paramedic Graeme Rayson said.
“We’re putting two extra crews out and extra people on to take calls.”
Building apprentice fighting for his life
CFMEU state secretary Aaron Cartledge said young apprentice Mr Mellor’s family were very distressed, having lost the teenager’s grandfather on a Mt Barker building site in 1983.
“It’s quite upsetting and of course it’s distressing for the family that this has happened three days into the job,” he said.
“His grandfather also died in an industrial accident in 1983 on a building site up at Bi-Lo in Mt Barker. So the family have had their fair share of industrial injuries and deaths so it’s not good news for them at all.”
Mr Cartledge said the teenager was still in a bad way on Friday.
“I spoke to one of the family members this morning and there’s obviously still some concern about his kidneys,” he said.
“He did come to yesterday for a brief period of time but he’s back unconscious again.
“They want him to come out of these comas today and (they’re going to) try and bring him around because there are concerns from this going too long that there might be some issue with a brain injury with it.
“He’s also developed a lung infection.”
Mr Cartledge claimed the young apprentice had been working three days under extreme heat conditions.
“Our view is if the temperature is beyond 37C they should knock off early,” he said.
“Given he was new to the job, he should have been sent home after four hours, I don’t think they’ve done a good enough job.”
He said in the commercial building industry, the general rule was to work out of the sun when the temperature reached 35C, and then leave the site when it hit 37C if there was no air-conditioning.
“It’s really left up to the employers to manage it and it’s so subjective,” he explained.
With many businesses set to close their doors over the Christmas period, Mr Cartledge said tradies were often pushed to their limits to finish jobs before the holiday season shut down.
“It’s like the world ends for them and they need to have their jobs finished — so they already push the workers pretty hard with longer hours and weekends.
“But then if you throw in extreme heat — it really pushes them to what is beyond reasonable.”
SafeWork SA is investigating the incident and has issued advice on working under hot conditions.
Master Builders SA chief executive Ian Markos said it was an “avoidable injury that sends a dire warning to every business”.
“We know we are facing a wave of severe heat and, on some building sites, people are working hard in exposed conditions,” he said.
“Everyone, regardless of industry, needs to think critically about protecting employees, especially in the wake of this incident.”
It comes as Adelaide’s temperatures look set to keep breaking records.
The city on Thursday recorded December’s earliest hottest day of 42.9C. The unbroken run of soaring 40C days has never been recorded in the city so early in summer.
Adelaide was the hottest city in the world on Thursday and has already equalled the record of six days over 40C in December, set back in 1896 and 1897.
The hottest place in the state was Port Augusta, which reached its peak of 45.2C at 3.51pm.
Today, the city is expecting a top of 42C, after hovering around the mid 20s overnight.
A maximum of 43C is expected on Saturday, before a cooler change and 27C on Sunday.
Saturday’s race meet at Morphettville has been cancelled because of the heat.
Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Darren Ray said it was unseasonal to see such extreme temperatures so early in summer, “but that is typical for El Niño conditions”.
He said the outlook for January, February and March indicated it was slightly more likely for cooler temperatures.
Total fire bans have been declared in five of the state’s 15 districts. The Flinders, Mid North, Mount Lofty Ranges, Riverland and Murraylands all face severe fire conditions.