Amidst Record High Temperatures, Families Flock To Public Pools And Aquatic Centers For Relief

SANTA CLARITA (CBSLA) - With most of Southern California in the midst of what the National Weather Service called a "dangerous and record-breaking" heat wave, aquatic center around the southland are seeing spike in families flocking to the water to escape triple digit temperatures.

"It's crazy hot, super hot," Santa Clarita resident Becky Hoey said. "My sister is in town with her kids, so we were like what better way to spend the day, but in the water."

Another Santa Clarita resident, Marcus Williams, said weather like this is all about letting the kids enjoy themselves and just trying to stay cool, while the kids are loving it.

Public swimming pools reopened to the public in May. Employees of the Santa Clarita Aquatic Center said that with the ongoing heat wave, they quickly reached their 350 person capacity Sunday. At a few points, there was even a line of people waiting to get in.

"We do have extra people staffed today because we knew it would be hot and pretty busy this weekend," aquatic center manager, Rachel Alfred, said.

One of the center's lifeguards, Elijah Rothschild spoke about how the pool stays on a tight rotation schedule to make sure everyone stays safe, whether they're on the pool side or on the play structures.

At the top of every hour, lifeguards and other center employees get everyone out of the pool for 10 minutes. Guests are reminded to get a drink of water or maybe have a snack and, of course, reapply sunscreen.

This is to help avoid any heat related illnesses that doctors say can happen as temperatures suddenly spike.

"It can be a real strain to the body," Dr. Victor Waters said. "That's where you can get that wide range of heat related illnesses, from a heat rash to nausea, vomiting and even life threatening emergency, what we call a heat stroke."