Arizona’s new heat illness chief announced Friday that he will work with local governments and nonprofits to prevent another horrific death toll from heat illness, which has surpassed 900 people across the state. He said that he is working this summer to open a cooling center and provide each home with air conditioning. last year.
“We don’t want to see something like this happen again,” Dr. Eugene Rivard said of last year’s deaths. “You can control your preparedness to respond, but you can’t control it. And that’s what we’ve focused on.”
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Rivard, a physician with the Arizona Department of Health Services, was appointed to the post by Gov. Katie Hobbs earlier this year, making her the first Heat official in a U.S. state. This new position recognizes the serious public health risks posed by the recent increase in extreme heat waves caused by climate change.
Dr. Eugene Ribar, first Heat Officer for the Arizona Department of Health Services, during a press conference held by ADHS and the Governor’s Office of Resilience on Friday, May 3, 2024, in advance of Heat Awareness Week at the Escalante Multigenerational Center. Give a lecture. , located in Tempe, Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Rivard spoke at a press conference to kick off Arizona Heat Awareness Week, May 6-10, in neighboring cities of Phoenix and Tempe, which recorded a record 645 heat-related deaths last year. He was joined by government officials from Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest county, and others. In attendance was climatologist David Honduran, who will be entering his third summer as the first heat officer for Phoenix, America’s hottest city.
The increased coordination comes as federal agencies seek better ways to protect humanity from dangerous heat waves that are lasting longer and more intense than ever before.
Last month, the National Weather Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a new online heat forecast that combines meteorological and medical risk factors with a simplified, color-coded seven-day forecast for a warming world with worsening heat. Announced the risk system. wave.
Last summer, Phoenix experienced its three hottest months since records began in 1895, including the hottest July and second-hottest August. Average daily temperatures of 97°F (36.1°C) in June, July, and August surpassed the previous record of 96.7°F (35.9°C) set in 2020. Phoenix also set a record for 31 days in July with at least the highest temperature in a row. 110°F (43.3°C).
This year’s hot season begins Wednesday in Maricopa County and runs from May 1 to September 30.
This year, Hobbs declared May 6-10 as Arizona Heat Awareness Week, with the goal of drawing attention to the dangers of summer in this dry southwestern state and addressing ways to better protect people. There is. The state of Arizona also created a heat wave countermeasure plan for the first time this year.
Among the new measures the state is introducing are at least six mobile cooling centers made of shipping containers and powered by solar power that can be moved wherever needed.
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For the first time this summer, the city of Phoenix will open two 24-hour cooling centers, one inside the downtown public library and one inside the senior center.
Maricopa County will spend $4 million to expand cooling and rest centers with evening and weekend hours where people can escape the outdoor heat, rest in an air-conditioned space and drink plenty of water. Secured nearby. We also work to help people with limited means pay their utility bills and repair or replace their air conditioners.
