6 Heat Deaths Reported In Deadliest July In 10+ Years For Cook County: Report

CHICAGO, IL — Cook County has recorded six heat-related deaths in July so far, making it the deadliest stretch of extreme hot-weather deaths in the county since at least 2015, according to a report by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times.

The latest person identified was Victor Ferguson, 48. Ferguson died July 2 from heat stroke with ethanol intoxication as a secondary cause, according to records from the medical examiner’s office.

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Six July deaths have been logged in Cook County so far this year. The high temperature ranged from 88 to 95 degrees on the day each person either died or was hospitalized, according to the analysis by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Besides Ferguson, the people whose deaths have been attributed to the heat are Stephanie Rodriguez, 45; David Gonzalez, 44; Barbara Whigham, 71; Mike Rodriguez, 57; and Daniel Machnikowski, 69, according to the medical examiner’s office. Four of the six people who died were younger than 60.

One of the deaths happened in Evanston. The other five people who died were residents of Chicago’s South and West sides, according to the medical examiner’s office.

The deaths add to a history of dangerous summer heat in Chicago and suburban Cook County. In 1995, the city's deadliest heat wave killed more than 700 people.

Chicago has gone through at least two other major deadly heat waves since then, one in 1999 when 10 people died, and in 2012, when 22 people died.

Read more from WBEZ: 6 heat-related deaths in Cook County mark July as deadliest month in more than a decade