What was meant to be a proud and joyous afternoon for Patersonโs graduating seniors quickly turned into an emergency response event as extreme heat forced officials to cut short the district-wide high school graduation ceremony on Monday. The joint ceremony, held in the afternoon at Hinchliffe Stadium, honored students from Eastside High School, Rosa L. Parks School of Fine and Performing Arts, STARS/T.I.E.S. Academy, Paterson P-Tech High School, and Paterson STEAM High School. But as temperatures soared into the upper 90s with heat index values reaching as high as 111ยฐF, emergency responders stepped in to halt the event for safety reasons. According to Fire Chief Alex Alicea, seven individuals were transported to local hospitals for heat-related illness, while approximately 100 others were treated and evaluated at the scene but declined further medical attention. EMS crews on standby distributed bottled water, cold wet rags, and operated several cooling stations to prevent additional incidents.
