WEDNESDAY, June 8, 2022
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2022 | Volume 35 No. 23
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The searing heat in June 2021 led to many sidewalks in Kamloops buckling, including this one in Southgate, on Dalhousie Drive, just north of Notre Dame Drive. The BC Coroners Service cited 619 heat-related deaths in the province — six of which were in Kamloops — between June 25 and July 1, 2021. On June 29, 2021, the mercury reached 47.3 C in Kamloops, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the city. DAVE EAGLES/KTW
Turn to PAGE A11 for information on the BC Coroners Service report regarding the 619 deaths connected to last year’s heat dome.
HEAT ALERT SYSTEM READY FOR SUMMER SEAN BRADY STAFF REPORTER sbrady@kamloopsthisweek.com
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he province has rolled out a new heat preparedness plan that, so far, includes adding heat alerts to the Alert Ready system. Prior to the announcement, the province used Alert Ready to notify the public about wildfires, floods, amber alerts, civil emergencies and tsunamis. But whereas those kinds of alerts will be sent out at the request of local governments, the new heat alerts will be sent by the new B.C. Heat Committee, according to Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth, who announced the changes on Monday (June 6). Farnworth said the province “needed to take a hard look” at heat preparedness fol-
lowing last year’s deadly heat dome, which claimed more than 600 lives across the province at the end of June. The B.C. Heat Alert Response System, or B.C. HARS, will trigger at certain temperature thresholds based on region. The system will alert via two signals, a heat warning and an extreme heat emergency. In the Interior, heat warnings will be sent when the daytime temperature is expected to be 35 C or higher and the overnight temperature is forecast to be 19 C or higher. Similarly, the Lower Mainland will see warnings at 29 C daytime and 17 C overnight, the Fraser Valley at 32 C and 18 C and the North at 29 C and 17 C. According to Environment Canada weather data, Kamloops has seen 55 days where the mercury hit 35 C or higher in the past five
years, including 14 in June, 23 in July and 18 in August. Alerts for extreme heat emergencies will be broadcast-intrusive, meaning they will interrupt TV and radio broadcasts and sound an alarm on mobile phones. The province is also working on an extreme heat preparedness guide, detailing ways to cope with the heat and how to stay safe. The guide was prepared by the BC Centre for Disease Control and will be available in multiple languages. The government has made the $189-million Community Emergency Preparedness Fund available to local governments and First Nations, which have until June 24 to apply for funding that can cover issues such as identifying heat-vulnerable groups and regions and providing transportation
to and from cooling centres. Health Minister Adrian Dix said the heat dome had a “profound effect” and showed that more needed to be done. He pledged “much more communication” and recognized the vulnerability of those with mobility issues or other conditions that might keep them from accessing local resources during extreme heat. A BC Coroners Service report on last year’s heat dome was released on Tuesday. It found 619 deaths related to the heat between June 25 and July 1, 2021, with two-thirds of fatalities involving those ages 70 and older. The report calls for the identification and support of vulnerable populations and strategies to address longer-term risk. It also identified the need for a co-ordinated heat alert response system, much like the one announced by the province on Monday.