SPOKANE, Wash. — With record-breaking temps Tuesday, it was a task to find relief from the heat. Some relaxed in the shade, others stayed indoors. In a scorcher like that, there may be no two words sweeter than 'free water.'
It's what brought Dave Billsland outside for most of the afternoon. "Need some water?" he asked passersby. "Hey, it’s free.”
Billsland, a member of the MAC Movement, set up a shade canopy outside Spokane City Hall to hand out the thirst quencher as part of Cool Spokane.
It's what he's done the last three summers when temperatures reach treacherous levels.
"It’s something that’s important on a human level. It’s above politics, it’s above religion, it’s above everything," Billsland said. "It’s humanity at stake here. We are saving lives.”
"It’s super hot!” said one man who grabbed a water and spray bottle to spritz himself with. "And it’s, like, barely noon.”
Whether sipping it or spraying it, Billsland says he braves the blistering heat to deliver quality H2O because of his belief it's a human right.
"Human beings need water. And we’re happy to give it," he said. "I don’t care who you are. I'll give you water.”
Cool Spokane's temporary cooling center outside City Hall is expected to return Wednesday and Thursday between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. So sweet relief will be on tap as long as Mother Nature keeps turning up the thermostat.
“When it’s this hot, when it’s above 95 we’ll be out here handing out water," Billsland said. "Because it’s important.”
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