7/26/2022
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The Spokesman-Review
Libraries expand hours for those escaping heat `
Range Media
KXLY
Report: Spokane 'unprepared' to take on a serious extreme heat event
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The Spokesman-Review
Libraries expand hours for those escaping heat `
By Nick Gibson and Carly Dykes
Four Spokane Public Library locations will act as the city’s official cooling centers during this week’s heat wave, the city announced Monday.
The Central, Shadle Park, Liberty Park and Hillyard libraries will all have extended hours for the duration of the heat wave, according to a city news release. They will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and have a combined capacity of 1,784 people. The library’s South Hill branch is closed for renovation.
If the library branches reach capacity then the city will open more cooling centers, said Kirstin Davis, spokesperson for the city’s Public Works division. However, Davis does not expect that to happen as cooling centers during last year’s historic heatwave never reached capacity. A total of 731 people used the Looff Carrousel cooling center last year during the 10 days it was open.
An excessive heat watch has been issued by the National Weather Service for Eastern Washington and North Idaho for the rest of this week.
Spokane will experience near record-breaking temperatures Wednesday through Friday.
Temperatures are expected to peak in the middle of the week, topping 100 degrees Thursday and Friday, and then will decrease to the mid- to high 90s by Sunday.
The Spokane City Council passed an ordinance last year that requires the city to provide cooling centers for residents when temperatures are forecast to be over 95 degrees for two consecutive days.
Twenty Spokane County residents died in June 2021 during a record-breaking heat wave, when temperatures reached an all-time high of 109 degrees with overnight lows in the high 70s. Davis said the library branches were the “perfect solution” for the city’s need for cooling centers. She said they already have the space and staffing to handle an influx of people, and are equipped with Wi-Fi, restrooms and activities. They were not able to be used as cooling centers last year since three of the branches were being renovated.
“The library locations are on or near bus routes, and they’re also spaced out,” Davis said. “So it’s maybe a mile or two walk depending on where you live.”
City Councilwoman Karen Stratton said she is worried about how residents will get to the cooling centers, especially if they live in an area without a center in the immediate vicinity. “If you’re stuck over in northwest Spokane on Northwest Boulevard in the heat and you need a cooling center and have to walk quite a ways to get to something – and we haven’t thought about any of that,” Stratton said. “We haven’t thought about how we transport people to these places.”
When asked if there were any plans in place to help residents with transportation to the cooling centers, Davis deferred the question to the Spokane Transit Authority. A spokesperson with the STA said there have been no formal conversations with the city regarding transportation to cooling centers.
Fare for a STA bus is $2, but Chief Operations Officer Brandon Rapez-Betty said individuals who can’t afford the fare can tell the bus operator what cooling center they are headed to and receive a free ride. Rapez-Betty said the program was adopted this year and is modeled after a similar one instituted by the public transit system in Vancouver, Washington.
“It’s a difficult approach, because we want to remind customers that transit itself is not a cooling center, and that we expect customers to have destinations,” Rapez-Betty said. “But when the heat is on like that, we are a critical partner in getting people to cooling centers. So we want to make sure we’re doing that.”
In addition to the library cooling centers, the city of Spokane and Mayor Nadine Woodward advised residents to take advantage of the 19 splash pads and six open pools located in parks throughout the city. There also will be a water bottle filling station in Riverfront Park and water misters will be installed along the Numerica Skate Ribbon.
City Councilman Zack Zappone said extending the library hours is a good start, but thinks there should be more cooling centers dispersed across the city.
“I don’t think misters on the skating rink are considered a cooling center,” Zappone said. “I think it’s a nice amenity to have, but that definitely does not constitute a cooling center.”
Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said police, fire and city code personnel will have bottles of water with them to hand out as needed this week.
Local events such as the Kendall Yards Night Market, and Riverfront Eats have been canceled in preparation for the projected dangerously high heat.
Annie Gannon, the communications manager of Avista Utilities said that while demand for electricity could increase during the heat, Avista remains confident that rolling blackouts will not be needed to handle the load during this week’s heat wave. During last year’s heat wave, the utility resorted to rolling blackouts as electricity use spiked.
Excess moisture in the region may provide isolated thunderstorms midweek, according to the National Weather Service. There are additionally elevated fire weather conditions toward the weekend. Hot, dry and breezier conditions are expected.
Thomas Kyle-Milward, a Washington Department of Natural Resources wildfire information officer, said Spokane-area fire departments are prepared for the possibility of increased wildfires.
“Our big worry is high heat. Stay cool, stay indoors,” Kyle- Milward said.
Eric Olson, fire chief of Fire District 2 in southeastern Spokane County, discouraged residents from using ATVS off-road or having any recreational fires.
“Anything with a spark is a problem,” Olson said. “Catch a movie. It’s a great week to do things indoors, not just because of the heat.”
Fire officials enacted a county-wide burn ban on Friday.
Olson said that in preparation of an oncoming fire threat, volunteer firefighters have been refreshed in wildfire training, and they have all of their equipment ready. Since Fire District 2 is entirely volunteer, many of the district’s firefighters are rearranging their schedules to be on-call during the heat wave.
“We are blessed with moisture from earlier this season, and have more fuel now than ever,” Olson said.
Reporter Greg Mason contributed to this report. Carly Dykes is a member of The Spokesman-Review’s Teen Journalism Institute, a paid high school summer internship program funded by Bank of America and Innovia Foundation. Reporter Nick Gibson can be reached at (509) 459-5443 or by email at nickg@spokesman.com.
By Jase Picanso
THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Extreme heat temperatures this week will put people at risk of heat-related illnesses, like heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
Being aware of the signs of heat exhaustion and knowing how to combat it can keep people safe during this heat wave.
“If you start to feel faint, dizzy, excessively sweaty, clammy, nauseated. If you feel sick or have muscle cramps these can be signs of heat exhaustion,” said Spokane Regional Health District spokesperson Kelli Hawkins.
If experiencing these symptoms, take a break and get out of the heat, drink water and try to stay away from drinks like sugary soda, caffeinated beverages and alcohol. Cool showers and compresses can help lower body temperature, Hawkins said.
Here are some way to prevent heat illnesses, according to the health district:
• Drink plenty of water.
• Limit outdoor time, especially in the afternoon.
• Take breaks when spending time outside and be aware of symptoms.
• Residences without air conditioning should open their windows for air circulation when it is warmer inside that it is outside, but should keep window shades down to block out direct sunlight.
• Do not use a fan when temperatures are above 95 degrees; it adds to heat stress.
• Visit public locations like local libraries, malls, movie theaters and designated cooling centers for cooler environments.
• Wear weather-appropriate clothing that is loose fitting and light colored.
•Wear sunscreen, sunburns negatively affect the body’s ability to cool itself.
Children, elderly people, people who are overweight, those who are physically ill and pets are all at high risk of illness.
The health district advised people to keep pets inside unless pet owners can take them everywhere they go. When they are outside, make sure they have somewhere out of the sun to lie and sit and fresh water to drink. Don’t walk pets in the afternoon until sidewalks cool down later in the day. If the pavement is too hot for a human’s hand, it can burn a pet’s paws, according to a health district news release.
“It’s really important to check on other people, elderly neighbors, people without air conditioning – those at high risk, check on them,” Hawkins said.
Health officials also warned of the dangers to animals, children, people with disabilities and elderly people being left unattended in parked cars.
“The temperature of a parked car will get even hotter than it is outside,” Hawkins said. “As little as 10 minutes in a car that hot can be dangerous.”
If someone sees an instance like this, Hawkins says, “Call 911 immediately.” Jase Picanso is a member of The Spokesman-Review’s Teen Journalism Institute, a paid high school summer internship program funded by Bank of America and Innovia Foundation. As the only paid high school newspaper internship in the nation, it is for local students between the ages of 16 and 18 who work directly with senior editors and reporters in the newsroom. All stories written by these interns can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information, please contact our newspaper’s managing editor.
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Range Media
Carl Segerstrom
Temperatures are expected to hit 104 degrees in Spokane this week. Carl is checking in with our unhoused neighbors at Camp Hope every day to see how they’re faring and what they need.
It’s too damn hot. Even indoors, people without adequate air conditioning and insulation face danger in the ongoing heat wave moving through the Pacific Northwest. Outdoors, with little to no shade, the prospects are deadly. Last year, there were 20 confirmed deaths due to the unprecedented heat dome that seared the region. But there wasn’t a barely shaded community of about 600living in tents and vehicles as there is now at Camp Hope.
Day 1 - Monday
Today at Camp Hope, as the temperature dial in my car read 98 degrees, I checked in at the camp with my wife and brought some supplies — ice, water, gatorade and coolers. An elderly man with spindly arms, had been found passed out in his tent. He was being watched over as Julie Garcia and other camp residents mixed powdered gatorade into water bottles and tried to get him rehydrated. Garcia, the executive director of Jewels Helping Hands, said she’s worried people won’t survive the heat wave.
The city just opened a handful of cooling centers at local libraries on Monday with limited hours.
Garcia’s organization has put forth plans for a cooling shelter for the camp that would cost $21,000. She said there hasn’t been a response from the city. “We’re out here in these conditions where people could be dying, and they’re talking about how to enforce sit-lie (anti-camping measures) today,” Garcia said. Without action from the city, Garcia said she and others need as much support as possible from the community and that there’s already been a lot of community help. “The community is helping and that’s what matters,” she said.
Throughout this week, RANGE will be covering the impacts of the heat wave on Camp Hope’s hundreds of residents. We’ll also be highlighting the needs of those in the community suffering from the extreme heat, ways to help and the volunteers pulling together to help people in our community survive the heat.
Today, I spoke with Donna Russell and Vaughn Sypher, neighbors to Camp Hope who are providing the camp with water through a 600 ft long hose that runs from their house to the camp. As we spoke, people were using the water to cool down and filling up large jugs to make Gatorade. Here’s what Russell and Sypher had to say about why they’re helping the campers and their experience providing water for them over the last month or so.
Russell: “They need water just as well as you and I do. They’re paying our water bill, so you know what, they’re paying for it, they can have water.
We don’t get harassed by any of the homeless people. They don’t bother our home, they don’t bother our vehicles at all. If they need a sandwich I will give them a sandwich.
I’m not being harassed by the cops, I’m not being harassed by the city. They came, they asked me, they made a suggestion that I stop giving them water. I said no. The two officers that came and talked to me and the other one who came the other day… they were actually polite.”
Sypher: "They suggested that we don’t do it because it just attracts more people there. They told us they prefer us not to.”
Russell: “People respect us, I respect them. But if you don’t respect me, I won’t help you. That’s just the way it is.
Nobody bothers us, nobody harasses us and I like it that way. I’m not going to deny anybody water. I wasn’t brought up to be stingy, that’s not who I am.”
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KXLY
Report: Spokane 'unprepared' to take on a serious extreme heat event
July 25, 2022 12:30 PM
Updated: July 25, 2022 10:20 PM
SPOKANE, Wash – As the Inland Northwest prepares for several days of triple-digit temperatures, a public policy paper analyzing last year’s deadly heat wave says Spokane is ill-equipped to handle a sustained extreme heat event.
The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Warning from the Cascade Mountains through the Idaho panhandle.
They’re forecasting temperatures from the upper 90s into the lower 100s from Tuesday through Friday.
The City of Spokane is directing people who need to stay cool to local libraries and pools, but stopped short of opening any additional resources.
That’s something a public policy analysis points to as a “minimally effective” response in a major heat event.
Analyzing the 2021 Heat Wave
The heat wave in June 2021 kept the Pacific Northwest in temperatures of 100 degrees or more for 13 days.
In that time, Spokane recorded its hottest day ever at 109 degrees.
One hundred people died in the region, including 21 in Spokane County.
A student from the Frank Batten School of Leadership at Public Policy and the University of Virginia analyzed the heat wave and Spokane’s response to it.
In his paper, Owen Hart writes “The 2021 heat wave demonstrated that without the necessary resources and preparedness, both the city government and the Spokane community are currently unprepared to take on a serious extreme heat event.”
Hart goes on to write about what happened and what needs to be done as the climate continues to warm and more of these extreme heat events are possible.
“What we’re not used to is extended periods of over 100, 105-degree heat,” Karli Honebein, Program Coordinator for the Center for Climate, Society and Change at Gonzaga University said.
Protecting the Vulnerable
Of those who died from heat-related illnesses statewide in the summer of 2021,67 percent of them were 65 and older.
Those living in poverty and without air conditioning also faced the risk of dying during a heatwave.
Add in the smoke that often fills the air for weeks at a time during wildfire season and the risk increases even more.
“Many households in Spokane often do not have access to air conditioning and leave windows open in their homes to cope with the heat,” Hart wrote. “This may contribute to negative health outcomes for low-income residents, particularly during periods of poor air quality.”
The report cites cooling centers as an option for those who need to seek relief from the heat, which Spokane added to the city code after the heat wave in 2021.
The code states that the city will activate cooling centers when the National Weather Service predicts temperatures of 95 or higher for two or more consecutive days.
But Hart’s report says the current system of cooling shelters is inadequate.
“While Spokane has established cooling centers during heat waves this past summer, these programs have faced criticism from community members for the hastiness of the plan’s development, a lack of communication with residents, and an inadequate transportation network to allow residents most vulnerable to heat stress to access cooling centers,” he writes.
“Even when cooling centers are located in close proximity to Heat Vulnerable Populations, as the Looff Carrousel facility is to downtown populations, the program’s focus on the homeless and the limited public perception of the risk posed by heat waves results in underutilization and a general failure to target benefits in heat vulnerable communities.”
In other words, cooling centers need to be better spread out into other areas of the community and there needs to be better transportation to those facilities.
“I think part of the problem with last year’s cooling centers is that people just weren’t aware,” Honebein said. “You know, people were hot, but they just didn’t know where to go”
The report also suggests the city needs an alert plan called a “Heat Early Warning System” to send alerts to mobile devices and computers so that people can better understand the risk.
Other recommendations
Hart makes other recommendations for the City of Spokane to be better prepared to handle the increased likelihood of more extreme heat events.
One suggestion is an air conditioning voucher system, covering the cost of purchasing window air conditioning units to people who are most vulnerable to heat stress. A pilot program would cost an estimated $825,768, but have a high impact.
The report also suggests a Cool Streets Pilot Program. It would follow a model in place in Los Angeles, which applied cool pavement in certain neighborhoods.
“The program would reduce heat-related morbidity by decreasing average ambient street-level temperatures experienced by pedestrians and residents significantly,” he writes.
The study suggests the program would be rolled out in Whitman, Hillyard, Bemiss or West Central. That project, though, is described as minimally effective at a cost of more than $1 million.
To read the whole report and recommendations in this study, you can find it at this link.
“If we can start to put these things in place, public plans, public signage and advance warning — a week ahead of a heat event, I think the community will show up because there are people who need it,” Honebein said. “Extreme heat is a real health hazard.”