OTTAWA — It’s extreme heat for volunteers working on ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” at a site southwest of Ottawa as they build a house for Allen and Gina Hill as part of the popular TV show. For volunteer Jim Watkins, a retired air traffic controller, that means in addition to helping to feed the work crews at the site, he has to locate mountains of ice, water and milk and arrange for air-conditioned freezer trucks for food. Usually, the show replaces an older house with a new house suitable for the families in seven days. For this episode, a special “quiet” house is being built at a different location, which is Wheatland Estates. Allen Hill received a severe brain injury from a roadside bomb in Iraq and suffers from a severe case post-traumatic stress disorder. The Hills’ present house in northern Ottawa is near a rock quarry, which has frequent explosions and near the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, which has loud noises, and Hill has had difficulty living there. Presently, he’s living at a Veterans Administration facility in California.
Monday, Aug. 1, 10:30 a.m.
