Oregon’s extreme heat wave has claimed three more lives, for a total of nine people who have died of suspected heat-related causes in the state, health authorities said Wednesday. A 72-year-old man died in North Portland and his death was reported Tuesday — when the temperature hit 104 — the peak of the record-setting heat that began over the July Fourth holiday. The Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office has released no information yet about the circumstances of any of the local deaths, saying they remain under investigation.
In past heat waves, most of the people died in their homes without air conditioning. A man in his 50s died in Jackson County — his death was reported to health officials on Saturday but released publicly Wednesday. He was found on someone else’s private property experiencing heat exhaustion and later died at a hospital, said Ben Fazio, a medical investigator for the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The temperature at the location and time where the man was found was 111 degrees, Fazio said. And Washington County reported its first suspected heat death on Wednesday: an 83-year-old man was found on Tuesday, the county’s public health spokesperson Afiq Hisham said. Since Friday, five others have died in Multnomah County and one person died in Coos County of suspected heat-related causes: an 87-year-old man in Northeast Portland, a 33-year-old Clackamas County man who died at a Portland hospital, a 64-year-old man who died in So.
