With extreme temperatures on the way early next week, the City of Revelstoke has announced the Revelstoke Community and Aquatic Centre will be open as a cooling station for residents to seek relief from the extreme heat event.
The City of Revelstoke posted a public notice of extreme heat on Thursday, July 21, 2022. The Community Centre says the cooling station located at 600 Campbell Avenue will be open during regular hours of operation, 8:30 a.m. until 7 p.m Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, and closed Sundays. Community Centre staff told Revelstokemoutaineer.com that the cooling amenities will be open starting Friday, July 22 and will extend until extreme temperatures are no longer consecutive.
An extreme heat event is defined as two or more consecutive days with 35 degrees Celsius or hotter temperatures and more than 18 degrees Celsius at night. These temperatures can trigger a variety of heat stress conditions.
Planning in the process
This is Revelstoke’s first extreme heat event notice of 2022 following last summer’s heat dome event that resulted in a heat-related fatality in the Revelstoke area and 619 heat-related deaths in B.C.
Revelstoke city council reviewed and provided support for an initiative hosted by the Revelstoke Community Response Network to help better prepare Revelstoke for future heat waves.
The planning will help inform and check on vulnerable individuals during a heat event and aid in communicating prior to and during the heat wave, creating community cooling centers, providing transportation, organizing check-ins with isolated community members, and distributing cooling devices and water.
Council heard that communication was a key issue, particularly reaching vulnerable people who may not be digitally connected.
The community heat response plan will activate with the announcement of public notices such as the one announced by the city. Funding is still in the process to bring this type of alert system to fruition.
Read more about the proposed heat wave initiative here
Revelstoke Community Response Network has new heat wave response initiative