With temperatures in the 90s and the air looking chalky, officials are urging residents to retreat indoors for cool air. The homeless may have trouble complying. In a Catholic Charities-

administered shelter at the Gales School at 65 Massachusetts Ave. NW, the electrical system won’t support air conditioning, so the staff is resorting to electric fans. Nearby, at the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) shelter on Second Street NW, the cooling system has been ailing since early last fall, according to CCNV Deputy Director Frederick Henry. Its broken supercharger was repaired last week, Henry says. But while it slowly returns to service, parts of the inside are stifling. Darlene Cooper, a resident of the Open Door Shelter for Women in the same building, says she’s spent some $15 of money intended for prescription drugs to buy a fan. “I’m sitting here right now without one of my lung-treatment medications,” she says. —Joe Dempsey