Extreme Heat Safety 05
Extreme Heat Safety 05 : Preparing Your Community for Extreme Heat Events: The impact of an extreme heat event depends on many factors including the effectiveness of the public health and safety systems to address or prepare for the event, the behavior, age, sex, and economic status of the individuals affected.55 Extreme heat notification and response plans are critical to preparing Kansans for extreme heat events. Notification systems and plans reflect local conditions and draw upon available local expertise and resources. As a result, local notification and response plans vary. This chapter discusses the key steps in responding to an extreme heat event and how to develop a heat response plan. The chapter also summarizes a range of strategies that can be included in the response plan and used to prevent morbidity and mortality from extreme heat events. (a) Key Steps for Planning for and Responding to an Extreme Heat Event: The County Emergency Management may already have developed an Extreme Heat Response Emergency Operations Guide. Agencies and organizations interested in providing a response during an extreme heat event in their jurisdictions are strongly encouraged to coordinate their activities with County Emergency Management to avoid duplication of efforts. The following is provided as an alternative in case the Extreme Heat Response Emergency Operations Guide is not operational yet in your jurisdiction. The key steps for planning for and responding to an extreme heat event have been summarized below. Step 1: Create a heat response plan: The first step in preparing to respond to an extreme heat event is to develop a heat response plan. A heat response plan is essential for describing and coordinating activities to prevent heat-related morbidity and mortality. The next section, "Developing a heat response plan," describes the minimum elements of an effective response plan. The response plan should define the lead agency responsible for the plan, criteria for activating the plan, and the roles of agencies and organizations involved with the plan. The plan also should contain a communications plan, identify high-risk and vulnerable persons, describe strategies to prevent heat-related illnesses and deaths, and establish an evaluation process. Step 2: Predict extreme heat event and transfer information to lead agency: For successful notification of an upcoming heat event, it is critical for the lead agency of the response plan (see the next section for a description of the lead agency) to develop partnerships with the NWS to ensure early weather forecasts capable of predicting extreme heat conditions a few days in advance of an extreme heat event. In Kansas, the NWS provides weather forecasts and determines the issuance of heat advisories, watches or warnings. Definitions and processes used by the NWS to determine extreme heat events are described in the section, "National Weather Service Definitions" above. All Kansas jurisdictions involved in planning and implementing heat response plans should develop relationships with their local NWS station to ensure daily monitoring of weather conditions and early detection and transfer of information regarding the characteristics of the upcoming event to the lead agency of the response plan. Step 3: Assess risk and determine activation of response plan: Once the lead agency is informed of a possible extreme heat event, the agency, in collaboration with its partners, needs to determine if the characteristics are indicative of an extreme heat event that could trigger activation of the heat response plan. Generally, the lead agency reviews the NWS forecast data and health-impact information to determine whether location-specific criteria for an extreme heat event are satisfied, and then, if the conditions are met, the agency activates the plan. Activation of the heat response plan should happen before the extreme heat event occurs to ensure that preventive measures and strategies are implemented at the most opportune time for preventing illnesses and deaths from extreme heat. Step 4: Activate response plan and notify the public: Assuming the impending heat event meets location-specific criteria for an extreme heat event, the lead agency activates the response plan. Immediately after a decision has been made to activate the extreme heat response plan, the public needs to be informed of the timing, severity and duration of the forecasted extreme heat event. Effective public notification of an upcoming extreme heat event helps eliminate the risk of the heat event taking a population by surprise. Notifying the public of anticipated conditions, strategies to stay cool and hydrated, and places to go to cool off will enable residents to prepare themselves and will enable the organizations involved in the response to concentrate on known high-risk individuals and locations. Advance public notification about the cooling centers (if used as a strategy) will increase the likelihood that at-risk individuals can take advantage of these services. All messages regarding an upcoming extreme heat event should be coordinated with media outlets to ensure the public receives consistent and accurate information. The communications strategy should be described in detail within the heat response plan. Step 5: Implement response plan: The fifth step in responding to an extreme heat event is to implement the strategies in the response plan. The strategies should reflect the demographics and vulnerabilities of the community. See the next two sections for detailed descriptions of several strategies that can be inserted into the response plan. The response plan should clearly delineate which participating agencies and organizations are responsible for implementing each strategy. Step 6: Evaluate response plan: Each step of responding to an extreme heat event should be reviewed and evaluated after an extreme heat event. Evaluation is critical for improving the plan and making it more effective for preventing heat-related illnesses and deaths in the future
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