Saskatoon puts Extreme Heat Emergency Response into effect

The City of Saskatoon is sweating the details when it comes to heat safety.

The Saskatoon Extreme Heat Emergency Response Plan went into effect Saturday, and includes cooling locations at places like the EGADZ centre downtown and the Saskatoon Community Clinic on 20th Street. The details of all of the cool-down locations can be found on the city’s website.

The cooling locations offer bottled water, water bottle filling stations and in some cases even misting tents.

Pamela Goulden-McLeod, director of the Saskatoon Emergency Management Organization, said another part of the city’s heat response plan is the Safe Bus Program.

“When people are in distress, they can flag down a city bus and our Saskatoon transit operators will help them get some support,” Goulden-McLeod explained.

Goulden-McLeod said the plan was created with the help of 25 partner organizations, including the Saskatchewan Health Authority. She said it focuses on groups vulnerable to heat, such as those experiencing homelessness, or people with health risks.

She said even a lack of air conditioning can lead to health issues in extreme heat.

“Buildings that don’t have air conditioning or a way to cool don’t cool off at night, so the heat just keeps building consecutively, day after day,” she explained.

Goulden-McLeod said that currently the response plan is at level two, which goes into effect when temperatures reach over 30 C and don’t go below 16 C at night. There are four escalating levels to the plan.

“It just means there’s a little more concern that we need to activate all of our community partners for,” she said.

Saskatoon is expecting highs of 33 C on both Monday and Tuesday, according to the Environment Canada forecast.

She said the plan was updated in 2023 after serious heat waves hit parts of Canada in recent years.

“We really looked at the heat dome in B.C. in 2021, and 600 people died there. There were many reports issued from that, and that’s what we’ve based our heat response on,” Goulden-McLeod explained.

The heat response will remain in effect until at least the end of the month, and will be monitored through Environment Canada.