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Philadelphia's Outdoor Workforce Managing Amid Late-May Heat Wave

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Those who have to be out in Philadelphia's warmer weather today say this first hot spell of the season has been tolerable.

Anne, of Chester Springs, Pa., has been a tour guide in the historic area for 20 years.  Dressed in Colonial-style garb, Anne was taking a break in the limited shade outside the Bourse Building on Independence Mall, sipping a bottle of water and waiting for her next group.

Anne says she looks after her visitors as well as herself.

"I tell them as soon as I see them to get at least one bottle of water," she says, "maybe two if they're going to tour for the whole day when it's this hot out."

Has she ever had anybody collapse from heat exhaustion during a tour?

"Never had one casualty yet -- not a one," she says.  "And if it gets very hot we always stop at a vendor and everybody buys a bottle of water."

Paul (at right in photo), on a break from his work at a nearby construction site, says he is managing to keep cool enough.

"You know, keep my rags, my little towels with me," he told KYW Newsradio.  "And really, this is a good day -- it's really not that bad."

One father helping to chaperone a field trip from MJ Ryerson's eighth-grade class in Greenwood, NJ had a better solution.

"You stay inside the nice historic buildings. You just stay inside," he said.

Reported by Mark Abrams, KYW Newsradio 1060

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