The mercury is rising again and the region’s brief love affair with warmer weather has begun.
Beaches are getting busy, motorcycles are roaring around and BBQs are being fired up. It’s (almost) summer, and the living is easy.
But before you get too casual and laid back, keep in mind that all this warm weather opens the window – literally and figuratively – on some potentially deadly situations.
Every summer, we hear about children all across the country accidentally falling through open windows, either pushing out a screen or simply climbing out. In the luckiest of cases, it means some scratches and bruises.
In the worst cases, it means death – and yes, we’ve had to cover a few of those over the years right here in this community, too.
But those open windows are a risk in another, more intentional way: thieves have long since figured out that during warm weather, it’s awfully easy to just sneak into a house to steal whatever is at hand – or, in some cases, to assault those living inside.
Each year, police and safety organizations issue warnings reminding people to be cautious about doors and windows, urging people to keep things secure.
We know: it’s easier said than done when the temperatures are sneaking past 30. It gets unbearably warm sometimes. (Well, unbearable for B.C., at any rate. It’s not exactly subtropical jungles here, after all.)
Unless you’ve got air conditioning, chances are good you’ve left your door open during the day or cracked a window at night, in hopes of catching a little breeze to ease the heat.
So, be cautious. Pick up an extra fan (before they are sold out midway through a heat wave) and double check your windows and doors.
Cooling down just isn’t worth the theft – or serious injury – that can occur from carelessness.
