Toronto's relentless heat waves this summer have killed four people so far.
Since June, three men and a woman have died as a direct result of the high temperatures, said James Edwards, regional supervising coroner for Toronto East.
Of the victims, two were elderly and two middle-aged.
"They died of heat stroke or dehydration," Dr. Edwards said yesterday. He would provide no further details.
According to Environment Canada, Toronto is in the middle of another heat wave, and it's going to stay hot until Sunday.
A high-pressure ridge situated just south of the Great Lakes is pushing hot air and haze into the city, said David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada.
"It's persistent and relentless. It just seems to go on day after day after day with no relief in sight," he said, adding that the lack of wind or cool breezes makes the weather even more uncomfortable.
Temperatures on Monday reached 35.5 degrees late in the day. Yesterday, they reached 34 degrees -- but it felt like 40 degrees with the humidity.
"We clearly have broken the [daily]record today," Mr. Phillips said.
It's not just people who are at risk during heat waves: Animals also face serious illness or death, especially when left in cars.
"It's basically like baking them," said Lynda Elmy, spokeswoman for the Toronto Humane Society.
Good Samaritans regularly call the police and the humane society when they see animals trapped in cars for long periods of time, Ms. Elmy said.
"We try to get to the dog without damaging the vehicle, but if a dog is in great distress, we'll smash the window," she said.
During the last heat wave in June, the society rescued 11 dogs. Most were suffering heat stroke and dehydration, but there were no tragic endings, Ms. Elmy said.
Mr. Phillips said that thought this weather is intense, it still doesn't come close to the deadly heat wave of 1936.
During the that three-day heat wave, July 8 through July 10, temperatures reached 40.6 degrees in Toronto. More than 200 people died because of the heat, some of them drownings, during that period.
"Horses fell dead in the street," Mr. Phillips said. "The roads had to be sanded because the asphalt melted. We're clearly not even near what it was back in 1936."
Fruit baked on the trees in Niagara Region and people slept along the lakeshore and in cemeteries to avoid the stifling heat, he said.
The air quality in 1936 was much better than it is today, but Torontonians back then wouldn't have had the luxury of air conditioning or fans, Mr. Phillips said.
They are luxuries that we now consider mandatory in modern life.
Michael Nepom, president of McKinnon Heating Cooling, said his company has received 50 to 100 calls every day requesting repairs on air-conditioning devices or quotes for new work -- four times the normal volume of calls.
"We've also acquired a huge amount of new business," he said. "It's been very, very lucrative."
People are asking for air-conditioning units to be installed in their elderly parents' homes, he said.
"The elderly tend to be a bit more stubborn about making that purchase," Mr. Nepom said.
But all of those cooling units have an intense effect on Ontario's power consumption.
Yesterday, the province's power consumption hit 25,808 megawatts per hour -- a July record, but not surpassing the June 27 record of 26,000 megawatts per hour, said Terry Young, spokesman for the Independent Electricity System Operator.
Those who don't seek artificial oases of coolness can face dizziness, weakness, severe muscle contractions and bizarre, irritable and combative behaviour because of intense heat and dehydration, according to John Clarke, spokesman with the Canadian Red Cross.
"[Heat]can affect the brain if it's dehydrated," he said.
People attempting to escape the heat can travel to one of the city's cooling centres, located in Etobicoke at 399 The West Mall; East York, 850 Coxwell Ave.; North York, 5100 Yonge St.; and Metro Hall, downtown at 55 John St.