Parks board discusses temporary closure of park playground

After closing and reopening the Firemen’s Park playground due to high temperatures on the equipment, the Graham Parks Department Board of Directors discussed options the city could take regarding the issue.

The board met Tuesday, Aug. 27 and made the determination to continue to monitor the temperatures of the park equipment, and if they get too warm to close the facilities. 

The city of Graham made a post on its Facebook page Tuesday, Aug. 20 stating the playground at Firemen's Park would be closed due to high temperatures making the equipment surfaces unsafe. City Manager Eric Garretty expanded upon that decision in the parks meeting.

“It got so hot last week that the fire chief called me and (told me we) had a child show up at the fire station with second degree burns from the slide,” he said. “(Public Works Director) Randall (Dawson) and the fire department went out there, and they were measuring temperatures between 120 and 180 (degrees).”

The city made the determination to close the playground down as a matter of safety and out of an abundance of caution. After retesting the facility Monday, Aug. 26, the city reopened the playground. 

“If we're in that 17-year cycle where it's going to be 100-degrees plus from July to August, if (the city) keeps getting those temperatures, the playground is going to be shut down during the period when all the kids are out of school if we don't do something,” Garretty said. “We don't even know if we're going to be able to afford to do something, but we're trying to figure out what to do.”

The board discussed items that could help mitigate the heat absorption on the park elements. Jacob and Martin Civil Engineer Tristan King said he reached out to Child’s Play, Inc. who sell shades and are also where the city purchased its new playground equipment.

“This (shade project) is going to be above and beyond what's in their brochure. I don't even have a guess on pricing, but they have all the drawings and everything, so they, in my opinion, would be the fastest way to get pricing,” King said.

Board member Donna Gage said the board would need a cost estimate comparison for a shade versus installing misters which would include the longevity or upkeep for both proposals. King said one of the elements around the playground at Firemen’s Park could be at risk with the installation of shades.

“One thing that is a big difference between the two (proposals) is, for shade, you're going to lose a lot of trees (or) at least trim them back significantly, depending on how big they have to be and how far away,” King said. “So that may be enough of a political ramification where you don't do anything.”

The board discussed covering a portion of the equipment rather than over the entirety of the playground, such as leaving out the swings in the center of the facility.

“The swings were really hot, too. When we went out there... last week, you couldn't even really put your hand on it for more than a second or two,” King said. “...You could potentially phase it out where you do one over the biggest playground equipment and years later do more. But I think that if you're going to do it, you're going to want to cover it all.”

King said the misters have the disadvantage of making the equipment wet and slippery which could pose an injury risk. 

Assistant City Manager Grant Ingram asked, with the playground being in place since 1959 with metal equipment there in the past, why was the heat a concern now. King said one possibility could be that the orientation of the new playground is different from the old.

“We have more equipment than we did before, so it could be that we have equipment that's positioned in such a way where it's getting more sunlight than the old stuff was. We shoved in a whole bunch more equipment than we had before so no matter really what way you orient it, there's going to be more that's in the direct sunlight than there was before,” King said. “...It is just hotter than it was, and you have more people coming than you did before. So more people, more accidents.”