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How do you endure the summer heat? Here’s how the pros handle it

Every day construction workers, police officers, landscapers, painters, security officers and valet staff face grueling shifts in the sun.

The Texas heat hits everyone, but most people can escape to air-conditioned havens.

Others aren’t so lucky. Every day, construction workers, police officers, landscapers, painters, security officers and valets face grueling shifts in the sun.

In Dallas-Fort Worth, that means enduring an average summer high of about 94 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. It also means suffering through an average of 18 days when temperatures reach at least 100.

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What steps do you need to take to protect yourself while working long hours in the sun? Here's what the pros do:

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Stay in the shade

James Jefferies prefers to do most of his job in the shade — under the trees at downtown Dallas' Main Street Garden, for example. An officer for the Downtown Safety Patrol, Jefferies spends eight to 11 hours a day on the job.

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Jefferies doesn’t spend his entire shift outdoors, though. He is encouraged to take frequent breaks from the heat. Downtown hotels and office buildings are his go-to spots about five to six times a day.

Wiping beads of sweat from his forehead, Jefferies said hydrating and staying in the shade are key to surviving so many hours in the heat.

"When I first started, I would cramp up a lot from not drinking enough water," he said.

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During an average shift, he said he typically consumes a gallon of water, in addition to juice and sometimes coffee — preferably iced or in the form of a frappuccino. Cold fruit smoothies are his favorite.

In his second year as a safety patrol officer, and 37th year as a Texan, he said this summer has been relatively mild so far.

“But I just know that spike is coming,” Jefferies said.

Apply sunscreen early and often

Rubbing an ice cube between her hands, Melissa Armendarez, 40, said it’s not the heat that bothers her on her eight-plus-hour shifts as a valet cashier for the Residence Inn by Marriott in downtown Dallas.

“I don’t think you get used to the humidity,” said the lifelong Texan who has worked three years as a valet. “The humidity is just dreadful.”

The valets keep an ice chest filled with water and sports drinks behind the key holder. Armendarez usually drinks about six bottles per shift.

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Hydrating has always been a priority for her, but after getting heat rashes recently she now makes it a point to never forget her sunscreen.

The sidewalk in front of the hotel is usually in the shade, but the afternoon sun roasts the valets. Armendarez, who works 6:30 a.m to 3 p.m., said she doesn’t envy her colleagues with later shifts.

“The sun just kills them,” she said.

'Take care of each other'

Ernest Munoz, a security guard at Klyde Warren Park, has seen his fair share of Texas summers — 73 of them and counting.

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“I know all about the heat. I’ve worked in it all my life,” said Munoz, who was born on a Texas farm. “I don’t think you can ever get used to the heat, but I know how to survive it.”

Part of his job is to make sure visitors are staying safe from the heat. He likes to talk to park-goers to see how they’re doing and to make sure they’re drinking plenty of water.

"I know all about the heat. I've worked in it all my life," said Ernest Munoz, security...
"I know all about the heat. I've worked in it all my life," said Ernest Munoz, security guard at Klyde Warren Park. (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)

Munoz also makes sure his coworkers are taking care of themselves. In the three years Munoz has worked there, he's never seen any serious heat-related incidents.

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“Everybody is different,” he said. “Everybody responds differently to the heat, so we have to make sure we take care of each other.”

Security workers at the park are encouraged to take as many breaks as needed, and Munoz said having nearby vendors selling snow cones and ice cream is an added bonus.

This summer hasn’t been so bad compared with others, Munoz said.

“If you can make it halfway through July without hitting 100, you’ve lucked out,” he said.

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Kids cooled down in a water park at Klyde Warren Park on Tuesday. In Dallas-Fort Worth, an...
Kids cooled down in a water park at Klyde Warren Park on Tuesday. In Dallas-Fort Worth, an average summer high is about 94 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.(Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)

Long sleeves and Pedialyte

Trimming the hedges of an Uptown apartment complex, landscaper Rigoberto Rangel said the easiest part of his shift is in the morning. It only gets worse after that.

To make it through his 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift, Rangel drinks eight bottles of water and two bottles of Pedialyte because it’s more hydrating and less sugary than sports drinks.

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To protect his skin, Rangel wears a loose-fitting, long-sleeve button-down shirt with his name on it.

Rangel has lived in Dallas for four years, and the Texas heat has taken some getting used to. He said the town he’s from in Mexico has cooler summers than those in North Texas.

“You just have to tough it out,” he said.

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'Don't push yourself'

After 42 years working as a painter, Kevin Pike, 63, said eventually you just get used to the heat.

“It’s just like anything else you have to acclimate to,” Pike said, as he and his team prepared to paint the outside walls of the former Abacus restaurant on McKinney Avenue. “When you’re out in it since the spring, you become acclimated to it.”

“Don’t push yourself,” Pike often reminds his co-workers, encouraging them to take breaks as frequently as they need to.

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Pike and his team usually start working around 8 a.m., and they try to wrap up by 3 p.m. to avoid the hottest stretch of the day.

“After that, it is just too darn hot,” he said.