A death-panel report is calling for a co-ordinated heat-alert system in British Columbia to prevent loss of life in hot-weather emergencies similar to the event last summer that resulted in more than 600 deaths.
The BC Coroners Service report comes a day after the provincial government announced a two-stage heat response system to help people and communities stay safe as temperatures rise and the threat of heat-related emergencies increase.
Michael Egilson, the chair of the death-panel review, says it’s important to focus both on the immediate threat and on longer-term prevention strategies and the report includes measures for both.
Record temperatures surpassed 40 C for days in last summer’s heat dome across the province, resulting in 619 heat-related deaths, most of them elderly and vulnerable people living in buildings without air conditioning.
The panel report says 98 percent of those who died last summer were indoors and most victims “lived in socially or materially deprived neighbourhoods” compared with the general population.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth, who announced on Monday that B.C.’s heat response system will include alerts broadcast to mobile devices, has scheduled a news conference to respond to the report.
