Here's how hot it's going to be today: A local school district will have a heat day.

That's right. Summer school classes in West Seneca have been canceled due to heat.

That's what happens when today's high temperature in parts of Western New York could nudge perilously close to 100, a rarity in a region that didn't make it to 90 even once in three of the last six years.

So while it will be an abnormal day, normal hot weather rules apply. Drink water, keep kids and pets out of the sun, and if you have an air conditioner, turn it on and welcome your loved ones who aren't so fortunate.

And keep in mind that it could be worse. Much, much worse.

You could be fighting a fire. You could be baking a pizza. You could be paving a road.

For all the men and women whose occupations dictate that they have no choice but to let us see them sweat, today could be a day to remember.

Or maybe forget.

Heat endurance is the name of the game for firefighters, and 35 volunteer recruits spent a hot morning Wednesday battling their first controlled structure fire at the Erie County Emergency Services Training and Operations Center in Cheektowaga.

By the end, they were all crowding huge coolers of Gatorade and water.

"They go from 90 degrees outside to putting another 40 pounds of equipment on, and their face is fully covered by a mask," said Tiger Schmittendorf, who led the basic training exercise for the county's Emergency Services Fire Safety Division.

These firefighters don't just endure weather-related heat, but fire-related heat that can reach 800 degrees, he said. Part of the extensive training that volunteer firefighters receive is building up the proper physical and mental conditioning to tolerate it.

"They train like athletes," Schmittendorf said. "They hydrate before, during and after."

Trainee Chelsea Stoeck, 19, said the heat and adrenaline rush associated with firefighting definitely take a toll.

"Today was definitely a test," said Stoeck, who comes from the North Amherst Fire Company and represents the third generation of her family to serve as a volunteer firefighter. "I was right next to the fire in full gear."

Getting through training requires the ability to ignore personal discomfort, she said, and focus on the task at hand.

"We're training to save lives, to protect property, and to protect ourselves," she said.

-- Sandra Tan

* * *

 Even though Wednesday afternoon's high temperature for the area was 89 degrees, the thermometer by the kitchen at Blasdell Pizza on South Park Avenue read 118. "We're not sure if it's working," said manager Heather O'Neil.

She and the six employees didn't need a thermometer to tell them that it was hot.

The dining area is air-conditioned, but the kitchen is not, and the heat from the six fryers and six ovens quickly fills the space. The ovens are set at 475 degrees for pizza.

"This week is really bad," O'Neil said of the heat. "If it hits 75, it's brutal in here."

She expected business to pick up after 7 p.m. "It's summer. No one wants to eat during the day," O'Neil said.

At the Blasdell Pizza on Southwestern Boulevard, manager Dave Aramburu agrees. But he said people order a lot of pizza when it's hot.

"Days like this, you would think people are grilling -- they're not," he said. "It's much easier to order a pizza."

Both managers make sure their workers drink plenty of water and take frequent breaks. Restaurant founder Harry Varisco also changed the dress code this summer, allowing male employees to wear shorts for the first time in 34 years.

O'Neil said kitchen workers also freeze wet rags and then place them around their necks to keep cool.

The Southwestern Boulevard location is air-conditioned, but the air conditioning fights the heat blasting from the ovens, and the kitchen is much hotter than the dining room.

-- Barbara O'Brien

* * *

Diesel technician Franklin Fowler dealt with the heat Wednesday at his workstation in the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority's Cold Spring Garage. A fan ran nearby as the temperature approached 90, Fowler said.

Ironically, he was working on an air-conditioning system in one of the 96 buses maintained at the garage on Michigan Avenue near Main Street. "We're just servicing it so the public can stay nice and cool," said Fowler, 29, of Hamburg.

Heat, though, is not much of a problem for Fowler, whether he's working on the chassis, under the bus; in the below-ground pit, that has little air flow; or on still-warm engines.

The cold -- that's another matter. "I'd rather have it 100 degrees-plus than be shoveling 4 feet of snow in minus-2-degree weather," said Fowler, as he set the controls on a refrigerant-recovery system to remove the old refrigerant and add the new stuff.

Fowler doesn't have an air conditioner at home, and said he doesn't see a need for one.

John Dembek, superintendent of NFTA bus garages, said management tries to keep employees well-hydrated by offering free bottles of Gatorade and a place to cool off -- their air-conditioned lunchroom.

"We have a 'cool zone' in the lunchroom -- their lunchroom is air-conditioned," Dembek said.

-- Mark Sommer

* * *

Staying indoors and avoiding strenuous activity is not an option for kids participating in outdoor sports camps.

Wednesday, roughly 100 girls from third grade through high school spent a sweat-soaked day racing up and down the shadeless field behind Amherst Central High School with lacrosse sticks and goggles.

By lunchtime, a few of the girls from the Hot Shots Girls Lacrosse Camp dragged themselves through a sprinkler to cool off.

Organizers said they always take special precautions to keep their campers from becoming overheated. A large water cooler is placed at each of the lacrosse practice fields, and water breaks are given every 15 to 20 minutes, said coach Jill Battaglia.

They also give breaks every half-hour to 45 minutes for the reapplication of sunscreen.

"We have a sprinkler we put out there at lunch," she said.

They started the camp, which began Monday and ends thutoday, by having a trainer give all the campers tips about staying safe and healthy. And camp coaches routinely bring all the kids together to sit and rest while the coaches demonstrate stick-handling and game strategy techniques.

Kristy Grossman, who works with the elementary school-age girls, also encourages the girls to pick up balls that can soak up water and are more fun for the kids to use.

"It's just a way to engage them in staying cool," she said.

-- Sandra Tan

* * *

Temperatures were so hot Wednesday that they even made a hard-nosed paving boss sympathetic.

"I feel sorry for the guys, to tell you the truth," said Dave Pfeiffer, owner of Man O' Trees in West Seneca. "They get their [butt] kicked out there. It's tough."

Hard hats and other safety equipment don't make the job any easier, Pfeiffer said, and his concrete and paving workers can't wear shorts.

Pfeiffer had about 140 workers at various projects Wednesday. The hottest were the Lewiston Road reconstruction project in Niagara Falls, which involves removal of radioactive material, and concrete sidewalk work at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

"[The] guys suck water all day long; it's hot," Pfeiffer said. "But that's our business, though. Usually it's either too hot or too cold. Buffalo, you know?

"... With the way it is currently with work, guys are happy to work, [but] I would like to see this go away."

-- Charlie Specht

citydesk@buffnews.comnull