After Miami and Phoenix, Los Angeles has just appointed a person responsible for the heat. The Heat Chief Officer is responsible for the California city’s response to extreme heat waves. It is the seventh city in the world to have such a post.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The role of these “heat directors”: prevent, inform, advise, coordinate. In other words, to ensure that the city and its population are prepared to face an extreme heat wave.
The head of heat in Athens, Eleni Myrivili, even launched the idea of identifying heat waves as we identify hurricanes, to which we give names and degrees of danger. A way to capture the imagination of the population and quickly make people understand the safe behaviors to adopt. “Would you order pizza during a hurricane?” “, she launched. The answer seems obvious. And yet… we haven’t yet learned to change our way of life when it’s hot.
However, heat waves are more and more numerous, and not only in the South. Even Montreal, a “northern” city for a few months a year, is no exception.
The City would therefore also benefit from creating a similar function, a position of commissioner for heat (and cold) or, more broadly, for climate change. Like the French language commissioner, a position created by the City of Montreal last fall, the climate change commissioner would work as a team with the city’s various partners to coordinate and implement the action plan in the event of extreme temperature.
This commissioner could also order studies, initiate information campaigns, make recommendations and participate in the redesign of the city so that it is more resilient.
For now, adapting to climate change is a responsibility shared between different players: the City, the Regional Public Health Department, the CIUSSS… In extreme situations, the SPVM, the fire department and the Center de coordination of emergency operations.
The commissioner would work as a team with all these stakeholders – there are many of them! – and in the end, he would be the main contact for all questions related to extreme cold and heat.
Currently, to trigger emergency measures in the event of a heat wave, the weather must meet the criteria established by Environment Canada, i.e. three consecutive days of more than 33 degrees (with a Humidex factor of 40), or two nights over 25.
Once the heat wave was declared, the City and its partners put in place a series of measures, some of which were adopted following the deadly heat wave of 2018. An epidemiological investigation by the Regional Public Health Department had identified the people most vulnerable to extreme heat. Conclusion: a person is more at risk of dying of heat in a disadvantaged neighborhood, and not green enough. People with mental health issues are also more vulnerable to heat. We ensure that groups at risk are now monitored and visited during heat waves.
The commissioner could ensure that all recommendations related to extreme weather are respected.
A climate change commissioner could also launch awareness campaigns to inform the population, which tends to mobilize more when it’s cold, less when it’s hot.
Montreal already has an extreme heat plan that can be viewed on the Santé Montreal portal. It includes, among other things, a map of freshness points in Montreal, such as libraries, cultural centers, community centers, etc. This plan would benefit from being more complete… and better known to the general public.
A climate change commissioner would also participate in the reflection on urban planning. In the aftermath of the 2018 heat wave, the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) sounded the alarm about the danger of heat islands and since then, the City has redoubled its efforts to green its territory. But we will have to adapt more and push the reflection even further. Should we think about modifying the working hours of those who work outside when it is too hot?
This is an avenue to explore. It would also be necessary to modify the street furniture. An example: the next generation of public benches will have to be equipped with awnings to protect them from the sun. These are just a few examples of the files that could land on the desk of this future commissioner.
In interview at The Press recently, the municipal councilor of Paris Alexandre Florentin affirmed that we were faced with three choices: to cook, to flee or to act.
A climate change commissioner would allow Montreal to act even more effectively.