Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you very much for joining us.
Since I've been mayor, our city has faced a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, historic snowstorms, historic smoke, and the closure of the West Seattle Bridge.
not to mention a pier that collapsed.
So we've been through a lot of emergencies and I will say from the bottom of my heart I hope this is one of the last times as mayor I have to brief anyone on an emergency.
But this weekend we could encounter historic heat waves for the city of Seattle.
To get through all the emergencies we had before, and to get through this one, we will have to take care of our families, our communities, and each other.
This is going to require all of us working together.
This weekend, beginning Saturday and really escalating into Sunday and Monday, Seattle is expected to experience record-breaking heat waves, maybe climbing into the triple digits, with an excessive heat warning issued this afternoon from Friday through Monday.
You'll be hearing from the National Weather Service right after me.
He will be able to brief you on that.
I've also asked our city departments and our partner organizations to join us here today to provide you an update on all we're doing to prepare for this heat across the city.
The first thing, though, I again want to emphasize is what everyone should do for themselves and their families.
Protect yourself, protect your family, protect your pets and your neighbors in the heat.
The most important thing we can do, to the extent possible, is to listen to the public health guidelines and to advice on preventing heat-related illnesses.
If you are outside, please be careful, especially if you're visiting one of our lakes.
We've already seen a number of drownings in our area, and as people go to our lakes and rivers, we want them to be careful.
We'll have Public Health and Seattle Fire discuss some very specific steps people can do around those areas.
We also are going to be opening a number of cooling centers and adding additional emergency shelter.
The Human Services Division, Seattle Parks, Seattle Fire, and the Seattle Libraries are here to discuss our plans and our efforts to create new cooling centers which include libraries, community centers, and senior centers, which have been closed.
We are working to reopen as many of those buildings as possible, as is the Seattle Public Libraries.
With our partners, the City and the County, we will have day and hygiene centers open as well, and the City will be opening an additional emergency center at Fisher Pavilion at the Seattle Center, and this is in addition to the one we already have at Exhibition Hall.
HealthONE will also be operating both vehicles and will be using their regular hours.
Our HOPE team will also be out and will be distributing, doing welfare checks and distributing water as necessary.
All of the times, sites and locations for cooling centers will be on our website at seattle.gov.
We really do want people to be able to be outside safely, enjoying our open pools, spray parks, beaches, and waiting pools to cool off.
But again, you'll be hearing from Seattle Parks and the Fire Department on precautions we want people to take to be safe in those places.
We will be activating this, the Emergency Operations Center, so that we can monitor events as they continue.
We also have partnerships with a number of folks downtown, including at Pacific Place, which is air-conditioned and will be open and will actually be offering discounts to people.
We are working with King County to make sure that their services are overlapping as well, but really encourage people that, as you will hear, stay where it's cool.
Do not overexert yourself.
It's a good time to stay inside.
If you don't have air conditioning, your home is hot, you'll be hearing specific things you can do about that.
theaters, restaurants, museums, libraries, places that are air-conditioned, malls, those are good places to go and spend time.
But now I'm going to turn it over to Reid Wolcott from the National Weather Service so he can give you the most up-to-date briefing on our weather forecast.
Thank you, Mayor.
So we stand on the doorstep of a long-duration, record-breaking heat wave that's going to impact the entire Pacific Northwest.
It's going to start Friday, and it's going to last well into next week.
Daytime high temperatures across the city of Seattle will rise into the upper 80s to around 90 tomorrow, and then on up to the upper 80s into the low 100s by Sunday and Monday.
Those two days, we will be challenging not only June records, but all-time records for Seattle.
On Monday, we actually have a forecast high temperature of 104 degrees, which would break our all-time record of 103 set in 2009. We could see some minor relief early next week, but we will be seeing above-average temperatures continue on through the 4th of July weekend.
That means that our community will continue to experience the impacts of heat stress through that holiday weekend.
Perhaps more important than the daytime highs will be the overnight lows, which will only fall into the upper 60s to low 70s.
This will offer little to no relief from the buildup of heat in our homes across Washington State that have no air conditioning.
Temperatures of this magnitude will bring a very high risk of heat-related illness for much of the population, particularly those that don't have adequate access to hydration or cooling.
I'll leave you with this.
This is an unprecedented event.
Those of us at the National Weather Service in Seattle have never seen forecast data like this before.
We urge everyone to make plans now to check on and ensure our loved ones, neighbors, pets, and our entire community remain safe over the coming week.
And now I'll introduce Dennis Worsham of Public Health Seattle King County.
Thank you for including us in this briefing today.
We know that this heat event as you've just heard is very concerning and we really know from our past experiences when we have had hot days here in the Northwest that through these extreme heat events that they cause serious health impacts in particular in particular to our low and most vulnerable income folks here in the in the in the Northwest.
So during our previous heat surges, we've seen increases in hospitalizations across the region, people who have shown up with heat strokes, heart attacks, other strokes, and kidney failure.
Oftentimes we see things related to extreme heat events.
People who are especially at risk, I include people who live or work outside, people who have medical conditions, or who really take medications that makes it much harder for their bodies to regulate their body temperature, such as diabetes, and people who are over 65 years old.
I also want to note that the impact is extreme, is felt disproportionately as already mentioned in some of communities throughout our region.
In particular, people of color and people in low income areas.
These people are more likely to have underlying health conditions and live in neighborhoods that are hotter because of less shade and more pavement.
And they are less likely to have amenities such as air conditioning, things of that nature that could protect them.
We want them especially and everyone to know that these steps we can take to protect our health and get through these next few days of really hot temperatures.
Drink plenty of water as you've already heard.
Drink frequently even if you're not thirsty.
Limit your time in the outdoors and in the sunlight and as much as possible take breaks, go to the shade, places where you can cool off.
If you've got a hot home or are in a place that you are staying that is hot, please take some breaks from that.
Get to a place where there's air conditioning, as the mayor has already mentioned.
There will be a number of cooling centers that are being placed up around the region, malls, friends' houses, movie theaters, other areas that have been mentioned already.
But to have a plan about where you can go and where you can cool off.
If you're in your home, take cool showers, take a bath, place cold washcloths on your skin, things to do to reduce the heat that your body may be experiencing.
We do have a message for our employers.
Please plan for frequent breaks, plenty of water for your outdoor workers, so that we can prevent heat illness for people who are working in these extreme conditions.
For all of us and as again the Mayor has already mentioned please check up on your elderly neighbors and relatives and take precautions and reach out to these folks who we know and care about.
So we know it's going to be uncomfortable for the next few days and it doesn't have to be fatal so we ask that you take these these recommendations seriously and take care of one another and take care of yourself.
Back to you Mayor.
Now we'll hear from the Fire Department and Willie Barrington will address this.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mayor.
Good afternoon, everybody.
It's unprecedented, as we're hearing.
And from the fire department, I'm going to give you a few highlights.
For our vaccines and testing sites, we don't see any impacts happening to our vaccination and testing process.
All scheduled vaccine pop-ups are proceeding forward.
The pride vaccine pop-up will be at 11th Avenue in front of Chophouse Row.
Saturday from 1 to 5. From 11 to 3, they'll be at the Blue Water Bistro in Leschi.
As the mayor said, Health 1 will have both of our Health 1 and Health 2 units in service from 9 to 6 on Sunday.
They'll be out providing water to our vulnerable population in service to them as well.
For our operations crews, we've reduced all of our training for them so that we can ensure our firefighters are going to remain safe and protected so they can go out and serve the public.
hot water hot weather safety a little redundant of what you've already heard we want you to we want to encourage you to drink water make sure you're being proactive in that we want to avoid avoid strenuous activity make sure that you stay in the shade avoid the sun never leave our children in cars even with the windows down or pets we want to make sure that we protect them as far as fire safety we want you we want to encourage you to dispose of smoking or grilling materials in a proper proper receptacles and make sure that we douse with water.
Be sure chains and other metal parts are not dragging from your vehicle as they can throw sparks.
Do not light fireworks.
And then we want to encourage you to be aware of our current regulations regarding burning and those can be found at Seattle.gov slash fire.
And then as water safety, we also want to always supervise our children in or near water.
swim where lifeguards are present, swim with a friend and tell friends or family where you are going out in the water, and please wear life jackets while you're out there.
Thank you.
And I will call up Justin Cutler with Parks.
Great, thank you William.
I'm with Seattle Parks and Recreation and today I have the pleasure of welcoming you back to our pools, wading pools, and spray parks.
This weekend and this summer, we're kicking off our outdoor spray park and wading pool season on Saturday the 26th.
We will have 11 wading pools, six spray parks across the city, usually open from 12 p.m.
to 7 p.m.
nightly.
Also, we have eight swim beaches, which will be open from 11 to 7 on weekends and from 12 to 7 on weekdays.
We have two indoor pools at Medgar Evers and Rainier Beach.
Also two outdoor pools at Coleman and Monger.
And we'll also be opening up three community center cooling centers.
We will have one at Northgate that will operate Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 8. one at Rainier Beach Community Center that will operate Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 8. The International District Chinatown Community Center will open and operate from 2 to 8 on Sunday and Monday.
And lastly as a reminder when you're out at our parks and our playgrounds many of the playground material may be directly in the sun and it may be warm to touch so please make sure that you test the playground equipment either the slide or the piece of equipment that you're going to be playing on prior to having your children go out there and touch the equipment as it may burn skin to the touch.
Be safe and enjoy the summer.
Thank you.
And next up, we'll have Helen Howell from HSD.
Good afternoon.
I'm Helen Howell, Interim Director of the Human Services Department.
We have confirmed today the planned opening of a 24-hour emergency cooling shelter at Fisher Pavilion to provide relief The emergency shelter will be open from the morning of Saturday, June 26th through the morning of Tuesday, June 29th.
It will be operated by the Salvation Army with capacity for 73 individuals.
Meals will be provided to guests by Operation Sack Lunch.
In addition, the HOPE team, in partnership with outreach providers, will be conducting welfare checks, handing out water and basic needs supplies, and providing other supports, including transportation to cooling centers and the cooling shelter.
Unlimited availability of 24 seven enhanced shelter, tiny homes and other shelter spaces.
In addition, the Lake City Community Center, which has been serving as a day center, will be open this weekend and parks has arranged for evaporative cooling at that location.
Extended hours of operation on Saturday and Sunday are 9 a.m.
to 6 p.m.
The department, HSD, has compiled a list of other day centers that will be open over the heat wave for people experiencing homelessness, and they can be found in the mayor's press release.
One of significance worth mentioning is the Salvation Army Day Center, and that can accommodate up to 200 during the day.
HSD aging and disability services case managers who work with vulnerable older adults have been checking in with clients and distributing fans to those in need all week.
Also to note, some of the senior centers will be available as cooling centers, including Greenwood Senior Center, the Pike Place Market Senior Center, the Senior Center of West Seattle, Southeast Seattle Senior Center, the Central Area Senior Center, and the Wallingford Community Senior Center.
It is recommended that people call ahead to confirm hours and availabilities at these senior center sites.
Thank you.
And with that, back to the mayor.
Thank you, Helen.
And we now have Tom Fay of Seattle Public Libraries.
Thank you, Mayor.
As you know, and many of you might know, the Seattle Public Library has begun opening in June, and we are happy to be able to assist in this effort.
As we go into Saturday, we have seven locations open scattered across the city, including the Central Library.
Sunday, we have five locations open, and on Monday, we have three.
As we move into the rest of the week, Tuesday through Saturday, again, there will be anywhere from six to 10 libraries open.
Folks can come in.
Again, we do have to have you wear masks.
And you can get all the other services that you normally would expect at the library.
We have computer access again.
You can come in and recharge your devices, sit, read, enjoy the cool temperatures.
We will have all our information posted at SPL.org as well as I know on Seattle.gov so you can look there.
We'll also be sending out a press release with all the locations open and the times that they will be open.
Now we'll hear from Phil Saunders of FAS.
Thank you, Mayor.
Good afternoon.
Thank you for bringing these city departments together to discuss this upcoming extreme event.
I'm Phillip Saunders.
I'm the Deputy Director of Logistics and Emergency Management for Finance and Administrative Services.
Just as we were during any type of emergency or event, we stand by and be prepared to help these other city departments to proactively plan for this event.
First, we are working to support the Human Services Department in any support that they need in the cooling shelters, at the pavilions, but we are still in a pandemic so we still have PPE supplies ready and available.
We have also strategically placed supplies readily available at places around the city so we have easy access to it during this event.
Secondly, we're working with HSD and our friends in parks to distribute supplies at shelter locations as needed.
That's very important for them, and we're on a 24-hour, 24-7 schedule right now.
Finally, I want to remind folks about The forecast is not only uncomfortable for us, but it's uncomfortable for our pets, as it's been said over and over.
FAS oversees the animal shelter for the city, and pet owners should never leave their animals in direct sunlight, unsupervised.
just like you and yourself or a loved one, make sure that they have shade and make sure that you are a good steward in checking on your neighbors as well.
I also want to remind folks that we're still in the pandemic and please check in on your neighbors and make sure that everyone remains safe through this time.
Thank you for your time and I'll hand it over to Debra Smith or excuse me, Michelle Vargo.
Good afternoon.
My name is Michelle Vargo.
I'm the Chief Operating Officer for Seattle City Light.
Of course.
I just wanted to mention that in general, the Northwest as a region has adequate resources to meet the expected loads that we're anticipating seeing in the next couple of days with this heat wave.
We are coordinating regionally.
The electric system is obviously a system that operates together, so we are working with the utilities that surround us.
and we do believe at this point in time that we should be able to get through this event with the resources that we do have.
Here in Seattle, specifically for Seattle City Light, we are a winter peaking utility, so typically we see the highest demand on our system in the winter.
And for reference, we have not seen a summer peak that is more than 75% of the peak that we see in the winter.
And typically this time of year, the system sees a 50% compared to our winter peak demand on the system.
So again, we do think we have the resources necessary to get through the event.
We have rescheduled any outages that would be impacting customers through the event specifically till Monday and of course we will continue to reassess this so we will not have any planned outages.
Wildfire concerns are real and we are working with all of the other utilities and monitoring the government agencies that help us monitor the conditions around our transmission right-of-ways to ensure that we can be reactive to any events that may occur along our right-of-way.
Our crews are available that if we have any unscheduled outages that we will respond and try to restore power as soon as possible.
Given the conditions, we really encourage residents to limit the heat sources within the homes.
So unplug any unnecessary electronics and keep your blinds or curtains closed to just ensure that you can stay as cool as possible in your home.
And that's all I have.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
We'll now take question and answer.
Will we have Deborah and Dennis available to, yep, if the question's to them?
Yep.
Any cancellations?
I heard Fire mention they were going to reduce training.
I've heard like Emerald Downs isn't going to have the horse races on Sunday.
I'm just wondering if there's any city road projects that are postponed or any cancellations at all?
Sam Zimbabwe, who's here from Seattle Department of Transportation.
We do not have any cancellations of road projects.
They will be watering bridges as necessary to keep them cool, to preserve them from any warping during these heat event.
We've never experienced an event like this.
When you hear the Weather Service say they've never seen data like this before, and it's June in Seattle.
So I think the most important message everyone has to have is be smart.
If you're an employer and you have people who normally work outside, look at what the temperatures are and make a wise decision about whether you have those people outside.
We as the city are going to be making those same decisions, making sure that the crews that have to be outside, that we have adequate water for them, they have adequate times to take off, that they can be in the shade when necessary.
But people are going to be looking at a range of things.
Obviously, SeaTac in the port of Seattle are assessing what they can do during these suns, both at the water port and the airport.
But right now, we've not had to cancel anything.
Is the city staffing up emergency responders, either police or fire, beyond normal levels for the heat wave?
We always have the ability to staff up for those emergencies.
And so there's basically an on-call framework.
I'll let fire answer the question of whether they've stepped up.
I know police has that capability every day.
Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mayor.
Um, as the mayor has said, we do staff up regularly.
If we need to, we can surge.
But we have stood up health one and health two over the weekends.
Um, that but outside of that, we haven't done any additional staff.
Correct.
If you needed to bring in more paramedics or something, how quickly could you get them on the job?
Very quickly.
So we have a regular recall plan that we exercise frequently for other events, and we would we would lean on that plan and get folks in as needed.
Thank you.
I'd also love to hear more.
It may have been from HSD about the outreach that has already taken place with the vulnerable older adults.
Is that mainly education?
Has there been distribution of like water and supplies?
Yeah.
Is Helen on?
Helen, do you want to hear that?
Did you hear that question?
I did not.
All right.
The question is, can you describe more details about the outreach to our seniors And the kinds of whether, you know, you said distributing fans, have they seen whether they have water or what their access is and the like and describe our outreach to them?
Well, our Aging and Disability Services Division serves a large number of older adults and they have an at-risk list.
that is used in circumstances like this.
So although the overall population could be labeled vulnerable there, they have a real high risk list.
And they're reaching out by checking in on the phone and finding out how their situation is working and what options are available to folks.
And also may have gone by people, but the You know, our senior centers have been closed in the pandemic.
People will recall that that's the first place the pandemic hit.
And so those senior centers that are being open are being open for this occasion.
So people have a place to go.
There'll be air conditioned.
We'll have a list of them that we're going to be distributing within communities.
sources will be available to people within these different centers?
So it will vary from the center.
You know, the libraries are going to be like a library.
There'll be air-conditioned, there'll be access to water, but they'll all be access to the other services.
The cooling centers and shelters, there'll be air-conditioned, there'll be access to emergency shelter where people will be able to spend the night.
There'll be water in every one of the places.
So we really are trying to make sure that each of the places is equipped.
And then there's the unofficial places, you know, the air-conditioned malls, the stores, the movie theaters, the neighbors' houses.
Our parks are open.
We'll have all the spray parks open, the beaches.
Again, we want people to be very, very careful.
If people aren't used to swimming in the waters, sometimes being very hot and going in the cold lake can cause shock.
And so really watch your kids and watch each other.
question for Seattle fire for the symptoms of heat exhaustion and at what point people should seek out your emergency medical assistance.
Yeah, thank you.
So for heat exhaustion, if the symptoms last more than an hour, we want you to start.
We want you to seek medical advice, you know, but you know, try to drink water, plenty of fluids, get in, get in the shade, take cool baths, try to get yourself cool down.
But if the symptoms last more than an hour, we want you to seek medical attention.
And what are those symptoms?
For heat exhaustion, it is essentially vomiting, getting sick, just not feeling well, dry skin, cramps, things like that, fatigue, tiredness.
Those are some of the signs and symptoms that you'll see there.
Heat stroke, dry skin, pale, red, you're gonna be really red and dry.
excessive temperature, you know, you're over 103 fever.
And so if those symptoms last for more than an hour and you're unable to cool down again, we want you to, we want you to seek medical attention.
Thank you.
Mayor, we have a few questions from people attending virtually.
So we'll cut in here and we'll start with Daniel Wu from the Seattle Times.
Daniel, the floor is yours.
Hi there.
I wanted to ask, will the reopened senior centers and shelters remain open after the weekend and Monday, Tuesday?
And are there plans to expand the capacity of the 24-hour shelter or keep it open for longer if needed?
We're going to be assessing, for example, some of the libraries because they're reopening and they're trying to staff up with Seattle Public Libraries.
Those are limited by who they're able to recall.
We're looking to see what alternatives there are with either Seattle employees or additional recall for the libraries.
We're also looking at each of the community centers to stagger those.
There's other programming that's occurring there.
So we will be watching the weather, like everybody else, and trying to take as Yeah, all the information will be online, but we also will be pushing that out proactively so people know where they can go.
Thank you, Mayor.
Daniel, do you have a follow-up?
Yes, yeah, I just wanted to, I mean, specifically for the 24-hour shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness, any plans there to increase capacity or keep that open for longer if needed?
We'll be looking at the weather to see what happens and whether we can continue that.
Thank you very much for the questions.
And our next question will come from Daniel Obelts, Malcontent News.
Daniel, or sorry, David, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Mayor Dirk.
And question for you is there was a report in the Seattle Times 80% of public water fountains are shut down.
Not all of that is, they were shut down due to COVID, but there is also a shortage of parts in getting those returned on and the city is working to do that.
Does the city have a specific goal on how many more of the public drinking fountains of the city will be back online as we come into the weekend?
Yeah, I will let Seattle Parks answer that.
The short answer is is again coming out of the pandemic in the winter.
We had most of those facilities closed because of the pandemic, but we're working literally around the clock to get as many open as possible and we hope to have at around 100 drinking facilities open for that.
Parks do you want to add to that?
So that's the up to date news from Seattle Parks.
Pools and beaches or you got one?
Go ahead.
Pools and beaches, you talked about the lifeguards at eight beaches and the four pools.
I'm just wondering, is that reduced from what we would see in a normal summer?
Are there beaches that won't have lifeguards in the chairs?
Yeah, great question.
So we are opening eight beaches.
We have nine beaches, but the ninth beach is at East Green Lake, and we're opening West Green Lake.
So in order to preserve staffing for this summer, we're only opening eight of the nine beaches.
But there'll be one beach at Green Lake, which is typical.
Are pools too?
Are they reduced?
Both Coleman and Monger will be open and it's the typical programming that we'll have there.
We don't have swim lessons or swim teams, except for rentals, but we do have open swim and lap swim and family swim.
Mayor, just one last question.
This is a Pride weekend for a lot of people, even though the official Pride is on hold.
People will be out drinking, outdoors, celebrating the way they had pre-pandemic in many ways.
Do you have a message for them, given that they'll be out in this heat?
Yeah, I think it's really important to take care of each other.
And it's a time to celebrate Pride, but do it smart.
And and really think about what the heat is and so the same rules is look out for each other if you're there Minimize the time you're in the direct sunlight make sure that you're drinking lots of non-alcoholic beverages and water And really trying to make sure that you're limiting the activity and if you see someone who's not feeling well And it's not just the normal and they have those symptoms that we've said it's really important to get them help either call 911 or get them to the hospital.
Um, but we do know that there is huge pent up demand for people.
Um, you can see because we have been so successful in our vaccinations, people coming together again, enjoying each other's company out at restaurants and bars and the market.
We want people to be able to do that, but do it safely.
Um, and I want to emphasize to put what's one of the things that was said is as we approach 4th of July weekend, Normally we see people set off a lot of fireworks in advance of that.
The risk of fire is great, and we really ask people not to be using the fireworks.
It will cause a number of things.
If those fires happen, it can endanger our power lines, and then if our power goes out, it will make it even more dangerous for people.
It also requires firefighters to respond to that instead of the other things they can be doing to help people through this.
So we're just really asking people to be smart.
All right, we have one more online question coming from Carolyn Bick, South Seattle Emerald.
Carolyn, the floor is yours.
Thank you so much.
Yes, I was just wondering really quickly, when you were listing off the different shelters and the options, did the City consider working with hotels to provide cool overnight shelter for people experiencing homelessness or for low-income families who don't have access to cool overnight shelters?
This is a great question, Caroline, and we've been working with hotels throughout the pandemic and coming out of the pandemic.
What has really been the limiting factor there are the service providers to assist.
And many of the people experiencing homelessness, we can't just open the hotel rooms, we need providers.
And so the emergency shelter that we're opening was what we're able to do most quickly.
We obviously in the coming days and weeks, we're going to be opening as much shelter as possible.
Any other questions?
It's going to be hot.
It's going to be really hot.
It is June.
And normally Seattle goes from the we're sick of the rain to it's too hot.
But this really will be.
It's too hot.
I think it's another indication of what climate change has done to our country and the dangers it can bring to individuals and communities.
And so my one message is please, everybody, take care of each other.
Be smart.
Drink lots of water.
Don't overexert yourself.
Stay in the shade.
Thank you, everybody.
And thank you for the media for getting this message out.
It's so important.
you