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unconsciousness or cardiac arrest. Frostbite, when extremities freeze, could lead to amputations.
• Homeless people who have no relief from the bitter chill are at risk, but Mahoney said he's also treated people who simply used bad judgment, sometimes due to drinking alcohol.
• The bottom line, Mahoney said, is to avoid the cold if you can -- or make sure all body parts are covered up and covered up well.
• You could die if you don't respect the environment you live in," he said.
• CAR BATTERIES
• Keeping vehicles in a garage is the most surefire way to ensure they will start in subzero conditions.
• But for those who don't have access to a garage, it's important that they check the health of their vehicle's battery before the cold arrives, said Jason Jones, who works for Best Batteries in North Kansas City, Mo. -- where temperatures early Monday were forecast to reach 10 degrees below zero.
• Most batteries less than three years old should be able to handle the cold, he said. Older batteries and ones that are on the verge of going dead often can't even be jump-started once they have been exposed for an extended time to temperatures below zero.
• "Some batteries you can't get back to life," Jones said. "Once they get to a certain point, they're done."
• SPACE HEATERS
• Brandie Nixon awoke the Saturday before Christmas to the screams of her 6-year-old son, Kurtus, and then saw smoke and fire in the bedroom of the family's small home in St. Clair, Mo.
• A portable heater had somehow ignited a toy box, the fire eventually spreading to the bed where Kurtus was sleeping. Fortunately, he awoke in time to scamper to safety.
• "The house didn't have heat," Nixon, a 25-year-old Wal-Mart employee, said, explaining the use of the portable heater. "I would not use heaters again. It's too risky."
• The U.S. Fire Administration says more than 50,000 residential fires annually are caused by heating, resulting in about 150 deaths. January is the peak month.
• "I think it's principally a desperation thing," said William Siedhoff, director of Human Services for the city of St. Louis. "When you're freezing cold, sometimes logic goes out the window and you seek out whatever means you can to stay warm."
• OUTDOOR EXERCISE
• Stephen Regenold is a self-described fitness freak who has, he says, enjoyed winter his whole life. Now 36, Regenold runs 5 miles daily around Minneapolis' Lake

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