A two-stage heat response system will be introduced in British Columbia to help people and communities stay safe as temperatures rise and the threat of a deadly heat-related emergency increases.
The B.C. Heat Alert and Response System will include two categories: heat warnings and extreme heat emergency alerts, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said Monday.
The government is prepared to broadcast extreme heat emergency alerts to mobile devices through the national Alert Ready system, which is already used to issue Amber Alerts and tsunami, wildfire and flood warnings, he said.
Temperatures surpassed 40 C for days in last summer’s so-called heat dome in B.C., resulting in almost 600 heat-related deaths, most of them elderly and vulnerable people living in buildings without air conditioning….