Due to warnings of excessive heat across the region, Salem opened cooling centers and scheduled two Soak The Kids events on Tuesday.
The city noted the public pool at Forest River was open, along with splash pads at Mary Jane Lee Park and outside of Forest River Pool. The Mayor Jean Levesque Community Life Center at 401 Bridge St. was also available as a cooling center.
The Fire Department hosed down Salem youth and their families first at Forest River Park and then at Salem Common. In similar fashion, Beverly firefighters turned the hoses on to create a pop-up spray park for sweltering families at Holcroft Park Tuesday afternoon.
Elsewhere in Beverly, the Senior Center and police station were also used as cooling centers, while both branches of the library were closed due to extreme temperatures inside the buildings.
In Peabody, residents were welcome to keep cool at the city’s libraries and senior center, and in Danvers, the library was available as a cooling center, but not the senior center due to the air-conditioning not working on Monday.
Michael McHugh can be contacted at mmchugh@northofboston.com or at 781-799-5202