Our View: In a heat emergency, just stay cool
When it gets hot, we all know what to do: Crank up the air conditioning.
We’re not trying to be glib. Yes, it gets hot every year in the San Joaquin Valley, but we recall all too well the lethal effects of a sustained heat wave. From July 16 to 29, 2006, at least 23 Stanislaus residents died during one of the worst heat waves ever to hit the state. Some put the number at 26 or 29; regardless, it is considered the most deadly event in the county’s history.
Yes, heat is deadly. It killed more than 1,000 in Karachi, Pakistan, last week. In 1995, 750 died in Chicago. Heat kills, and not just people. Livestock have no way to escape it. In 2006, thousands of cows died; hundreds of thousands of chickens and turkeys. Rendering plants were overwhelmed. The state permitted burial in landfills or on farms. We were declared a disaster area.
The Public Policy Institute of California drew this conclusion after studying our 2006 heat wave: To reduce injuries and fatalities, get people into air-conditioned surroundings; even an hour can make the difference between life and death.
For most of us, that’s not difficult; we consider air conditioning a prerequisite for life in the Valley. Unfortunately, for some running the A/C creates difficult choices. More on that later.
Having drawn conclusions similar to those of the PPIC, our local emergency and health officials also developed specific plans for heat emergencies. Updated in 2014, Stanislaus County’s plan identifies specific “heat islands” and includes a list of 33 cooling zones or centers – most in public places. Posted online, it invokes a warning system with specific actions based on the “heat index,” which combines temperature and humidity into a single number.
It’s not uncommon for temperatures to break 100, but high humidity is rare. What made 2006’s heat wave so deadly was moist air pushed into the Valley from the south, said Dr. John Walker, Stanislaus County’s public health officer. But even our “dry heat” can lead to sunstroke, heat exhaustion or heart attacks.
The county’s assistant director of emergency services, Dale Skiles, also cited air quality considerations. Bad air stresses the body. Walker recalled the fires that burned 30,000 acres in Diablo Range the week before the temperature spike.
Usually, our valley cools at night. But during a heat emergency, nighttime temperatures remain high, depriving us of any respite.
“It’s not the top number,” Walker said. “Like blood pressure, it’s the lower number that’s crucial.”
Also emerging from the data was the necessity, said Skiles, to identify high-risk groups. He noted that 75 percent of the 23 dead were male and 87 percent lived alone. Maintaining contact with high-risk individuals is crucial, Skiles said.
“Government alone can’t do it,” he said. He said neighbors need to stay in touch with those at risk – especially in mobile-home communities.
One statistic, or anecdote, from 2006 stood out to Walker: Four of the dead were found sitting in front of fans. The Bee wrote in 2006 that some of those had air conditioning, but refused to run it – perhaps worried about their ability to pay the resulting bills.
No one, no matter how poor, should fear turning on the A/C when the Valley is set on broil.
As complete as the county’s Extreme Heat Contingency Plan is, the missing component is helping low-income and fixed-income people find a way not to be financially traumatized by electricity-bill spikes after they’ve kept themselves alive by staying cool.
Our local utility providers – Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. – should provide relief in such emergencies for those who qualify. We’re not talking about existing programs that spread out payments on higher bills over longer periods. That’s not enough. There should be some way to forgive those costs once county officials have declared an emergency.
There’s more. The California Public Utilities Commission will vote this week on a two-tier pricing plan being pushed by the state’s biggest electricity companies. We would prefer multiple tiers, such as the plan carried by CPUC Commissioner Mike Florio. A third tier can offer those who can least afford the monthly bills a lowest-cost option. Providers that have only two tiers should consider adding a third.
Power companies and public utilities are not charities, but they are monopolies. Air conditioning in our valley is not a luxury; in a heat emergency it is literally a matter of life and death. No one should die because they fear they can’t afford to turn on the air conditioning.
This story was originally published June 27, 2015 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Our View: In a heat emergency, just stay cool."