MEDWAY, Mass. (
MyFoxBoston.com) -- On an 80-degree day, the synthetic turf fields at Medway High School give off triple-digit heat.
Tracy Stewart is a mom in Medway, and an activist who opposes artificial fields. She discovered the enormous discrepancy between air and surface turf temperatures earlier this month.
"I decided to grab a heat gun and check it out myself," Stewart said. "About three in the afternoon when it was about 81 degrees out, the field temp was between 148 and 153."
FOX25 confirmed unusually high field temperatures, relative to the air, using an infrared thermometer. We also found another huge temperature variance, between real grass and fake.
We pointed the thermometer down at the synthetic surface of the field, and temperature was close to 140 degrees. Over on the grass surface, in the sunshine, the temperature was slightly above the 80-degree mark.
Dozens of Massachusetts towns and schools have installed synthetic fields, in no small part because they're easier to maintain.
In Concord, which already has one expanse of artificial green, a new one is going in. There, too, some have concerns about the intense heat the fields generate.
"Hot day like today when it's 90, 95 and sunny, they get up to 160 degrees," said Bob Grom of Concord.
Others are concerned about the possibility that the underlayment of crushed tires may contain harmful chemicals.
"People lost track of the fact that children would be playing on this. Children who are very susceptible to toxins, to carcinogens, much more so than adults," said Concord resident Beverly Ridpath.
Back in Medway, the town's health director tells FOX25 the health board will take up the field heat issue next month, and, if necessary, could even order the placement of signs around the field advising of the excessive heat.
