STILL HOT; RECORDS FALL AS MERCURY RISES ACROSS THE VALLEY.

Byline: Amy Collins Daily News Staff Writer

Crazy rabbits. The real ones hate the heat. The giant talking one loves it.

While veterinarians were icing down delicate bunnies because of Wednesday's fifth straight day of record-breaking heat, James Cornelius stood on Ventura Boulevard in a white rabbit costume and waved customers into an all-you-can-eat buffet deal.

``Call me foolish or whatever - I love it hot,'' said the 40-year-old Sherman Oaks resident.

Then he should've been in Chatsworth, which the National Weather Service says posted the hottest temperature in the San Fernando Valley - 110 degrees, tying a record set in that community on the same day in 1983.

Today is expected to be cooler as a marine layer and its attendant fog and low clouds begin to move into the area, said Rob Krohn, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

``It's still going to be pretty hot in the Valley,'' he said. Highs will be in the 100- to 105-degree range.

Throughout the day, Southern Californians contended not only with record temperatures but also heavy surf, smoggy air, power outages in Sylmar, Granada Hills and Sun Valley and fires near Fillmore, Gorman, Castaic and Oak Park.

Southern California Edison Co. and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power recorded all-time highs for power usage Wednesday, both breaking records set only the day before. Their previous records had stood since 1992 and 1990.

``It's the heat and the humidity. Everybody's turning on their air conditioner,'' said Tom Boyd, a spokesman for Edison.

And why not?

It was hot everywhere in the Southland on Wednesday. Woodland Hills was 106 degrees, the Civic Center recorded 98, Simi Valley posted 109, Northridge had 107 and Burbank didn't quite break the century mark with 99 degrees.

Newhall, which had a high of 108 degrees Wednesday, is expected to see the region's highest temperature today, at 109, Krohn said.

Temperatures were cooler last week when human rabbit Cornelius agreed to wave a sign for the Orchid Grill and Kabob. He didn't know then about the looming heat - or the bunny costume.

``He didn't tell me about the bunny suit until the last minute,'' Cornelius said, referring to the restaurant's cook.

But as a former resident of the Antelope Valley, Cornelius said he's used to the heat - and besides, he was having a ball with the attention he was getting.

The real bunnies didn't think it was so funny.

Chloe Wolff at the All Pets Medical Centre in West Hills said rabbits and birds are the animals having the toughest time with the heat.

Rabbits can die in the heat in as little as 20 minutes, Wolff said, and start to have a trouble at even 80 degrees. Several rabbit owners brought in their overheated pets during the past few days to be iced down and get a shot to calm their nerves, she said.

Other less-friendly creatures react to the heat too. Ants, for one, invade homes during heat waves.

Hall said the reproduction cycle quickens for animals in the heat, allowing unwanted guests such as mosquitoes, flies, ticks and fleas to make bigger pests of themselves. He recommends keeping screens closed and washing pets more often.

Despite the record power consumption, outages were kept to a minimum, officials said.

Parts of Sylmar, Granada Hills and Sun Valley were without power Wednesday, said Debra Sass, a spokeswoman for the Department of Water and Power. No more than 400 of their customers were in the dark at any time during the day, she said.

By Wednesday afternoon, Edison was working to restore power for 390 customers in the Ventura area, Boyd said.

On an average summer day, Edison customers use 16,500 megawatts of power. On Monday they burned 18,186, and Tuesday saw 18,735 megawatts used, setting an all-time high at 4 p.m.

But by 3 p.m. Wednesday, that record was shattered when usage hit 19,084. Boyd said he expects high usage again today but suspects Wednesday's record will stand.

Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said ozone levels were moderate in the San Fernando Valley, recording a level of 0.09 parts per million. The worst pollution in the basin was in Riverside, with a rate of 0.16 parts per million, reaching toward a Stage 1 smog alert, which is 0.20.

The heat was another headache for firefighters in Los Angeles suburbs Wednesday.

More than 700 firefighters battled scorching heat and dense undergrowth north of Fillmore and Piru as they struggled to control the Hopper Canyon fire, which burned nearly 5,000 acres of Los Padres National Forest, state forest and private land.

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3 Photos

PHOTO (1 -- 3 -- color) James Cornelius of Sherman Oaks, left, defies the Valley's sweltering afternoon heat Wednesday in a full-body rabbit costume while trying to attract customers to a restaurant on Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana. Above, Cornelius doffs his rabbit head to take a refreshing drink of ice water during a break. His breather over, right, he dons the bunny head before returning to the heat on the street.

Evan Yee/Daily News