Gainesville — As the summer heat continues to swelter, city officials weighed in Wednesday on the local effects.

Advisories from the National Weather Service and AccuWeather predict afternoon temperatures as high as 105 degrees through July 27, with minimum late-day heat at 98 degrees. And coupled with dwindling moisture as August nears, the negative results of summer weather veer into the economic realm.

Feedback from officials:

• As discussed in recent county commissioner meetings, Cooke County Fire Marshal Ray Fletcher said the moisture levels are lowering daily, putting the county at considerable risk for problems. The Keetch-Byram Drought Index recently indicated a county average of nearly 600, where 800 denotes absolute dryness.

“The biggest impact the heat has had is the impact on the vegetation in the county,” he said. “It’s made it much more fire sensitive. It’s not unusual in August to dry out. January and August are our dryest months by average. If we were to get normal moisture, it’s not something we can’t deal with. But the problem with this area is, along with the extreme heat, is the lack of moisture.”

• Gainesville Fire Department Assistant Chief Wally Cox said during summer firefighting — especially ardous grass fires — the task is exhausting and dangerous for his crew.

“From a personnel standpoint, it takes its toll real quick on us,” he said. “We put on all our gear and that traps any body heat we have. We can’t evaporate through protective clothing; we get even hotter. What we’re doing to combat that is calling for faster alarms so that we can change our people out and let them rehab and cool down for a few minutes.” Cox said during scorching days, his crews utilize a turnaround process on a fire site where firefighters spend every few minutes inside their truck drinking fluids while other members replace them outside.

• Gainesville Economic Development Corporation Kent Sharp said the sales tax revenue from utility expenditure is higher during the summer, but that’s a mixed blessing.

“Any time you have winters where natural gas is being sold or hot summers where a lot of electricity is being sold, obviously you have sales tax,” he said. “I don’t see too much of an impact on retail sales. I wouldn’t say the 100-plus degree days are keeping people from going to the stores. ... I would rather have sales tax coming from people going out and buying retail, buying things they want or need, than having high utilities. But yeah, the ramifications of extra heat? The first thing that comes to mind is a lot of sales tax that it’s attached to.”

• Public services director Ron Sellman said the summer heat takes a toll on his city employees.

“They’re coming in early, starting at 6 and 7 a.m., and getting out,” he said. “The other impact is water usage is up, which is okay — we’ve got plenty of water right now. The water usage is going up but it’s not really high; we’re averaging three million gallons a day and we have capabilities of supplying well over that, probably six million a day. We’re not hurting for water or looking for any kind of water rationing. But the main impact is making sure our people are staying well-hydrated.”

• Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce Director Lynette Pettigrew said outdoor events ArtWalk and Summer Sounds are potentially hobbled by the weather, but the downtown location for both is kept somewhat cooler by the bricks around them.

“A lot of people think it may be too hot to come out,” she said. “What most of them don’t realize is, a lot of the buildings shade the areas where we seat people. ... You don’t have the heat that you think you would have as you’re downtown shopping.”

• Tom Thumb manager Chris Cox and Walmart Supercenter manager Angela Franklin said shoppers are arriving earlier and later in the day. Cox said his shoppers certainly buy more ice and Franklin said during June and July, hers have purchased more bottled water, sunscreen, fans and air conditioners.

“Things of a summer nature,” she said.