TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona's recent heat commissioner said Friday that he’s working with local governments and nonprofit groups to open more cooling centers this summer and ensure homes have working air-con to forestall one other horrific variety of heat-related deaths prevent , which topped 900 nationwide last 12 months.
“We don’t want something like this to happen again,” said Dr. Eugene Livar on last 12 months's deaths. “We can’t control it, although we can control our preparation in response to it. And that’s what we focused on.”
Livar, a physician with the Arizona State Department of Health Services, was appointed to his post by Gov. Katie Hobbs earlier this 12 months, making him the primary state heat commissioner within the country. The recent position recognizes the intense public health risks posed by climate-related extreme heat, which have increased lately.
Livar was joined at a news conference to kick off Arizona Heat Awareness Week May 6-10 by representatives from governments including the neighboring cities of Phoenix and Tempe and Maricopa County, Arizona's largest county, which recorded a record 645 heat-related deaths last 12 months . In attendance was climate scientist David Hondula, who will likely be experiencing his third summer as the primary heat officer in Phoenix, the most popular city in America.
The increased coordination comes as federal agencies search for higher ways to guard people from dangerous heat waves which might be arriving earlier, lasting longer and increasing in intensity.
The National Weather Service and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month unveiled a brand new online heat risk system that mixes meteorological and medical risk aspects with a seven-day forecast that simplifies the warmth for a warming world and color coded is waves.
Last summer, Phoenix experienced its hottest three months since records began in 1895, including the most popular July and the second warmest August. The day by day average temperature of 97 F (36.1 C) in June, July and August beat the previous record of 96.7 F (35.9 C) set in 2020. Phoenix also set a record in July, with a 31 -day series of highs at or above 43.3°C.
This 12 months's hot season began Wednesday in Maricopa County, where it runs from May 1 to Sept. 30.
Hobbs designated May 6-10 as Arizona Heat Awareness Week this 12 months to boost awareness of the risks of summer on this dry Southwest state and work on ways to higher protect people. Arizona also has an extreme heat preparedness plan in place for the primary time this 12 months.
Among the brand new measures the state is rolling out are at the very least half a dozen mobile cooling centers produced from solar-powered shipping containers that may be moved wherever they’re needed.
The city of Phoenix is opening two 24-hour cooling centers for the primary time this summer, one at a downtown public library and the opposite at a senior center.
Maricopa County has committed nearly $4 million to expand evening and weekend cooling and recreation centers where people can escape the surface heat, rest in an air-conditioned space and drink loads of water. It also works to assist people of limited means get help paying their utilities and getting their air-con systems repaired or replaced.
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