SOME LIKE IT HOT; ICE VENDORS, INSECTS HAVE FIELD DAY IN VALLEY'S SEARING HEAT.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

How hot is it? Just ask the women walking across the Valencia Town Center parking lot Thursday whose high heels dug into the sun-softened asphalt.

Or talk to the sheriff's deputies making a quick stop at Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt Shop who said they could wring the perspiration from their bulletproof vests.

Chickens at one Santa Clarita home flapped their wings as they waddled about their yard, trying to churn up a slight breeze.

The temperature soared to 101 degrees Thursday in the Santa Clarita Valley, and more of the same is expected today. Air-conditioning service people and pest control experts, be on guard.

``It's like we went from winter to summer, with no spring,'' said Kathy Pape, owner of the Newhall Ice Co., a 24-hour block ice vendor service that has doubled its business in recent days with the scorching heat. ``It's been very busy.''

The ice company has had its phones ringing off the hook since the triple-digit temperatures hit Wednesday, with calls mostly coming from convenience stores with requests for 7-pound ice bags.

Newhall Ice received a call Wednesday from a child care center employee requesting that the company blow some ``snow'' for the kids to cool down, Pape said.

``It's definitely hot out there. The volume of telephone calls are really high,'' said Pape, who frequently pops her head inside the company's large freezer to cool off.

Insects - namely ants and roaches - as well as rodents also pose a problem this time of year, said Carl Wentzel, a local Terminix branch manager who has seen a 30 percent increase in business in recent days.

``It's too hot and they want inside, just like people do,'' he said.

The pest expert recommends residents keep food contained, trash to a minimum and pull weeds away from their homes to detour unwanted guests.

While the heat is a bother to many people, others like it hot, like Mike Barbera, an inspector who oversees the structural concrete work at the Saturn dealership under construction in Valencia.

Barbera said he is suited for the sun.

It is not unusual for him and construction workers beside him to stand in temperatures reaching 150 degrees because of the simmering steel surrounding them.

``I love the heat. It's just one of those things. It's never bothered me. I've been working outside all my life,'' Barbera said. ``As long as you drink lots of water, apply sun block and eat properly.''

And Marguerite McGuigan, who traveled from her humid hometown in Maryland to visit her mom in Santa Clarita, said she has no qualms with the hot, dry weather here.

``It's very tolerable. There's no humidity. It's a dry heat. It's much more tolerable than the humidity,'' she said.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) A construction worker feels the heat as temperatures climbed to 101 in the valley Thursday with more of the same expected today.

(2--Color) A worker takes a big gulp of a thirst quencher in an effort to beat the heat. Some workers said they thrive when the weather gets hot.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News