B.C. report calls for co-ordinated heat-alert system to prevent to future deaths
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VICTORIA — 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.
