NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Hot, sticky summers have always defined living in the South, but experts believe that injuries and deaths caused by extreme temperatures have been drastically reduced by the wider availability of air conditioning.
About 91 percent, or 36 million, of Southern households now have central air conditioning units, a number that has grown considerably since the late 1970s, when about a quarter of Southerners didn't have air conditioners, according to the U.S. Census figures from 2005.
Another 5.7 million have window-mounted units.
The most recent statistics from the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest public utility providing power to seven states, show only 2.5 percent of its customers don't have air conditioning.
While air conditioning has always been more widespread in the South, Dr. Robert Hutton, chief of emergency medicine at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, said decreasing prices for units and better education on heat-related illnesses have helped reduce heat casualties.
'People have better access to air conditioners now,' Hutton said. 'The cost of air conditioners has come down significantly so that even our poorest houses, or at least people in extended families, have air conditioners.'
More than a dozen people died in a heat wave that swept the South last year, but that doesn't compare with heat waves as late as 1980, when more than 1,200 people died.
'Air conditioners have gotten a lot more efficient, they're a lot quieter, and they got to a point where a lot more people could get them,' Hutton said.
Heat in 2003 killed 15,000 people in France, where air conditioning is far less common, and killed another 112 last year.
Since the extreme heat began last Friday, at least 35 people have gone to Memphis emergency rooms for heat-related illnesses, Memphis and Shelby County Health Department spokeswoman Joan Carr said.
Hospitals have treated 14 people in Nashville.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has not seen any illnesses qualifying as 'heat-related' -- like heat exhaustion or the more severe heat stroke -- but the emergency room was already at 112 percent capacity by 9 a.m. CDT, spokesman Jerry Jones said.
'That does seem a little unusual for this early in the morning,' Jones said. 'I think what we're seeing is people coming in with medical conditions that are being aggravated by the heat.'
In Tennessee, 10 died and 132 people were hospitalized for heat-related illnesses in 2005, the Department of Health says.
Nashville grandmother Barbara Jones doesn't care about statistics; she wants an air conditioner.
Jones, 75, suffers from heart disease and emphysema and has dealt with the summer heat by sitting close to a fan.
'It wasn't doing much,' Jones said. 'With heat like this, it's just a drop in the bucket. I haven't been in a position to get (an air conditioner).'
Jones stretched her arms toward the blistering sun Wednesday as Metropolitan Action Commission spokeswoman Lisa Gallon ordered a new window-mounted air conditioner be loaded in the back seat of her car at no cost.
'I came down here yesterday and put in an application, and today I finally got an air conditioner,' Jones said.
Gallon said the commission has been giving away air conditioners for 20 years and has already given away 141 this summer, including nine on Wednesday. She expects it to be a record-breaking year.
'From a health perspective it is very important to have an air conditioner,' Gallon said. 'Also we have our energy assistance program, which helps with electric bills, so they can keep their electricity going.'
Other charities and governments around the South are also providing relief from the temperatures, which are to peak Wednesday above 100 degrees -- with heat index readings hitting 110 -- and flirt with all-time records.
Memphis and Nashville have set up cooling stations in community centers and malls, where those without air conditioners can wait out the heat until the evening brings only slightly lower temperatures.
Still others make it their mission to go door-to-door checking on the elderly and sick.
TVA set a peak power demand record Wednesday for the third day in a row and is expected to set another record Thursday, spokesman Gil Francis said.
The utility sold 33,344 megawatts of electricity by 6 p.m. EDT Wednesday, breaking an all-time peak record set Tuesday of 32,888 megawatts.
'Today we're looking at warmer temperatures,' Francis said on Thursday. 'If that pans out, we'll probably top out somewhere around 33,700, which would be a new record.'
TVA urged its 8.7 million customers to 'use energy wisely,' noting that the utility has put in place some energy-saving measures of its own at its offices, including raising thermostats.
Francis said there have been localized temporary service outages, but the entire power grid has held up well throughout the heat wave.
'There may have been some local glitches at substations,' Francis said. 'The power plants we prepared for this hot weather back in the spring are paying off well.'
A heat advisory remains effective for most of the region until 7 p.m. CDT Thursday.
'Relief hopefully will be tomorrow; we're having a dry cool front coming through tomorrow,' said meteorologist Bobby McDaniel. 'But it doesn't look like there will be any relief for the drought.'
'Relief,' by the way, means forecast highs of 97 instead of triple digits.
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