The City of Delta has been trying to get the word out to community partners to spread the message that cooling centres are available during extreme heat.
The effort to spread the message continues as another heat warning has been issued for across the Metro Vancouver region.
The cooling centres in Delta will be activated Thursday morning.
The community planning and development notes the city works with community partners serving vulnerable populations on an ongoing basis and, as part of those efforts, city staff over the past couple of weeks had been circulating information on Delta cooling centres and other available resources to over 200 community partners.
Those groups include, among others, the Delta Homelessness Task Force.
Noting the city is constantly improving processes and communications, the planning department also says it has an extreme weather working group which is in the process of updating an emergency plan and creating more readily-available resources for residents, including creating an online map of cooling centres.
During the last hot weather event, from July 29 to Aug. 3, the city had approximately 130 people seeking refuge in Delta’s activated cooling centres.
That number doesn’t include libraries that also acted as cooling centres.
The centres were available at the KinVillage Community Centre in Tsawwassen, McKee Seniors Recreation Centre in Ladner and Kennedy Seniors Recreation Centre in North Delta.
They were also open at the North Delta Rec Centre, Ladner Leisure Centre, Sungod Recreation Centre, Winskill Aquatic & Fitness Centre as well as the South Delta Rec Centre.
Due to wildfires, an air quality advisory was activated for several days by Metro Vancouver, so recreation and senior centres were open as better air quality sites as well.
The city notes recreation centres are fully open to public for recreation use during normal hours and people can also visit them during non-extreme weather events if they are looking for a cool environment.
Fraser Health today noted a heat warning was issued on Aug. 10 by Environment Canada which advised of increasing temperatures from Thursday Aug. 12 through to Sunday Aug. 15.
Medical Health Officers for both Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health are again urging residents to take precautions to protect themselves and those who are vulnerable from the health risks associated with sustained high temperatures.
“While forecast temperatures are not anticipated to reach the heat alert levels recorded during the extreme heat event in June, public health urges people to prepare for the weather ahead and to take measures to stay safe,” the FHA notes.
“Based on previous heat events, the anticipated temperatures are proven to cause negative health outcomes among Lower Mainland residents who may not be acclimatized to temperatures in this range and may not have ready access to adaptations, such as air conditioning. Heat stress can pose an immediate danger to health. Symptoms of heat-related illness can include thirst, dizziness, confusion, weakness and fainting or collapsing, including loss of consciousness.”
For more information about Delta's cooling centres once they are activated, check the city's website at https://www.delta.ca/
