Guthrie Green's Food Truck Wednesdays On Pause Due To High Temperatures

In the middle of the week, many people go to Guthrie Green to grab some lunch, but because of extreme temperatures, those behind the stove took a small summer break. 

"It says 84, and that is a nice, cool 84 in here," said "The Bayou" food truck owner, Kortnie Martinez, looking at the thermostat inside her food truck. 

With the sun beating down, it can be easy to get overheated outside, but for those working Guthrie Green's Food Truck Wednesdays, it felt a bit toastier.

"Once it gets one hundred degrees, it's going to read 120 something or so," Martinez said about the temperatures inside her food truck. 

Martinez and her team cook up New Orleans-inspired Cajun fare.

"Po boys, gumbo, sometimes we have alligator, our praline pudding is like the talk of the town," she said. 

She loves giving folks a taste of Louisiana, but it isn't always easy.

"Pretty brutal," she said thinking about the heat. "I don't even know how hot this thing can get, but we aim to have it between 400 and 500 degrees to get that proper cook on everything," she said, talking about their stove. 

For the first six months of 2024, EMSA responded to at least 56 heat-related illness calls. With temperatures in the hundreds, paramedics reminded everyone to drink more water.

"Inside those heat trucks where there's not a lot of airflow, and sweat is just pouring, it's really important for workers that work inside a food truck to take the appropriate amount of fluid intake," said EMSA's clinical supervisor, Kofi Wallace. 

Martinez said her staff's safety is always the number one priority, even if it means putting off business.

"Hey, go take a break, go drink some water. Everybody in line, they're just going to have to wait a little bit longer because our safety comes first," she said. 

Martinez said the heat is difficult for local food trucks, but they keep pushing and plan to work limited hours throughout the summer.

"This is our livelihood, and we can't really, we don't have any other option, so we're all just doing the best we can, working as hard as we can trying to make ends meet," she said. 

Food truck Wednesdays will pick back up and running again at Guthrie Green on September 4th, 2024.