The Tshwane Emergency Services Department on Tuesday warned the metro's residents of soaring temperatures due to a passing heat wave. Temperature in the Pretoria central business district reached a maximum of 34 degrees on Tuesday afternoon.Spokesperson Johan Pieterse said the heat would be with the city for quite some time and might even return after it had subsided.He said the emergency services were always ready to respond to any incident related to heat waves.Pieterse said excessive heat could be life threatening for children‚ adults exercising outdoors‚ people with respiratory diseases‚ elderly people and people with disabilities as well as people with diseases such as epilepsy in particular‚ as they were most vulnerable to heat waves that could result in heat exhaustion.“Heat exhaustion occurs when the body cools itself by sweating. Should sweating be insufficient to meet the cooling demands of the body‚ heat-related illnesses can occur.“These heat-related illnesses are presented with minor symptoms such as heat rash‚ which progresses to heat cramps‚ then heat exhaustion and finally to heat stroke (a life-threatening medical condition)‚” he said.Dehydration could also occur as excessive sweating caused loss of water‚ which led to muscle cramps‚ weakness‚ nausea and vomiting. Pieterse said this made it difficult to drink enough fluid to replenish the body's water supply.“The lack of body water impairs further sweating‚ evaporation and cooling. Heat exhaustion presents symptoms such as profuse sweating‚ weakness‚ muscle cramps‚ headache‚ nausea and vomiting‚” he said.Relative humidity was another important factor in developing heat exhaustion‚ he said. “If the humidity is too high‚ sweat on the skin cannot evaporate into the surrounding air and the body cannot cool down.”Residents in the metro were advised to use sunscreen when outdoors‚ protect their eyes from direct sunlight by wearing sun glasses or a hat‚ drink lots of fluids and to ensure animals had enough water...