Extreme heat contributed to his brother’s death. He fears he could be next

Yonatan Vasquez was best friends with his brother Wilmer since childhood.

It wasn’t that they were that similar. Wilmer, the younger one, was extroverted. “He just wanted to be around people,” says Yonatan. “He was always encouraging people and making sure they were happy. He liked being the center of attention.”

The brothers often worked together as roofers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Wilmer DJed for the other guys on the work crew. “He danced on the roof,” Yonatan recalls with a laugh.

That’s not Yonatan. “I don’t really care about people,” he says. “I’m the exact opposite.” The differences between the brothers also extended to their hobbies. “He liked rap music, I liked classic rock. He knew a lot about sports and movies. I like scientific stuff,” says Yonatan.

And yet they were close. It was as if Wilmer understood what Yonatan was feeling, even if Yonatan didn’t say it. “There was just a certain understanding,” he says. “We were on the same wavelength, but had different vibrations.”

Despite their differences, both brothers ended up in the roofing business. Their father had also been a roofer, as had several uncles, so it was something of a family profession. Although Yonatan says he wishes it weren’t that way.

“Honestly, I wish I had chosen a different career path,” he says. “I’d rather be something else.” Wilmer has a young son, and Yonatan says when the boy grows up, he will encourage him to avoid a career as a roofer. “We don’t need a third-generation roofer,” he says. “It’s a tough job.”

Summer is the most dangerous time for roofers, says Yonatan. Summertime temperatures in South Florida regularly rise to extremes. Human-caused climate change is leading to more intense and longer-lasting heat waves, and people who work outdoors are among those most at risk for fatal heat illnesses.

Working on a roof is particularly strenuous. There is no shade and workers often have to work with hot materials. “If you touch one of the tiles, you burn your hands,” says Yonatan. “The asphalt shingles in particular absorb a lot of heat.”

And in places with high humidity, such as Florida, conditions can quickly become deadly. That’s what killed Wilmer last summer, Yonatan says. He fears he could be next.

A normal working day became deadly

In the months before Wilmer’s death, Yonatan had tried to convince his brother to give up the roofing business. He says both he and his brother coped with the stress – physical and emotional – by drinking too much. They both suffered from muscle cramps and dizziness on hot work days, but Wilmer experienced it more often.

“I said, ‘Maybe you should try a factory. Try something where you work inside, because I don’t think you can handle being outside,'” Yonatan recalls suggesting to his brother.

But Wilmer wasn’t convinced. “(He said) something like, ‘No, but if I’m a truck driver, I’m not going to talk to anyone. Just me, all by myself,'” Yonatan recalls. Working alone indoors didn’t suit Wilmer’s extroverted personality.

Last July and August were the hottest months ever recorded in South Florida. The heat index, which takes into account both temperature and humidity, was above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) for 46 consecutive days in neighboring Miami.

On August 21, 2023, both Yonatan and Wilmer went to work as usual. Yonatan remembers that it was a humid day with temperatures around 30 degrees.

Wilmer was assigned to deliver roof tiles in the morning. Around noon, he climbed onto a roof to lay wood along the eaves. Yonatan finished his work at another construction site and sometime in the afternoon he received calls from Wilmer’s colleagues.

“I remember people calling me and saying, ‘Hey, how’s your brother? He was really cramping today, man,'” Yonatan recalls.

Someone drove Wilmer home. Yonatan could see that his brother was sick from the heat. His muscles were cramping, he was dizzy. He didn’t want to be in air-conditioned rooms. “Every time we turned on an air conditioner or a fan, he told us to turn it off,” says Yonatan.

Muscle cramps, dizziness and feeling cold even though the body is overheated are common symptoms of severe heat illness.

Wilmer’s condition worsened overnight and he died in hospital the next morning. Yonatan was his brother’s emergency contact and was the first to know.

“I actually didn’t cry until the doctor told my mother,” he says, falling silent for a moment.

“My mother’s soul left her body. And she looked right at me. Her face said, ‘Are you serious?’ And I said, ‘It’s true,'” he recalls. “That’s when I broke down.”

Wilmer Vasquez was 29 years old.

When climate change threatens your career and your life

Yonatan says it is obvious to him that climate change played a major role in his brother’s death.

“I have to explain to people that my brother died: it was the hottest year since weather records began,” says Yonatan.

However, he says many of his friends and family members still don’t understand how hot it really is and how dangerous the heat can be.

“It’s only getting worse,” Yonatan says. “People don’t understand how hot it is. Because when they’re working, the heat is air-conditioned. When they go in their car, the air-conditioning is on. When they go home or to work, the air-conditioning is on. They only feel (the heat) for about 20 minutes a day. They don’t understand how much the body has to work when you feel it 10 to 12 hours a day.”

Yonatan fears the heat could cost him his life, too. Summers are getting hotter and hotter. And while heat-related workplace protections in the U.S. are spotty at best, Florida earlier this year banned local governments in the state from passing laws that would require workers like Yonatan to have rest breaks, water and access to shade on dangerously hot days.

Yonatan thinks a lot about quitting the roofing business. Maybe he could work in IT, he says. He has since stopped drinking alcohol and is more careful about what he eats and drinks. He wears long sleeves and a sun hat to protect himself from the sun while he works.

“If I don’t change a lot of things in my life, I won’t live past 40,” he says. “My brother didn’t live past 30. I don’t want my mother to bury another son.”

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