NFPA Journal - Winter 2023 - 41

Perspectives
happen in the different sectors of the city.
It's a complex exercise, and we're still
setting it up.
So based on how bad the heat is
supposed to be, you determine the
threat level, which puts in motion a
response. What kind of messages
are sent out, and who do they go to?
It's a system of messages that goes out to
the workers in the city who are in contact
with the most vulnerable citizens. It's city
workers, but also nongovernmental organizations
like the Red Cross. We target
the homeless. We target older people
who live alone, young kids in schools,
and others. We also piggybacked off the
system of social workers that the city
developed during COVID, where people
go and check in on people, especially
older people living alone. Through that,
we actually reach several hundred people
who live alone. And we also developed a
hotline and a website for citizens to get
more information.
Aside from fighting fires and
responding to a variety of
medical emergencies, what role
do public-sector emergency
services have in this system?
In Athens, we made models to see where
we needed to focus our emergency
efforts during extreme heat. It takes
into account which areas of Athens we
should expect to get more calls from, so
we can strategically place our resources
there. The parts of Athens-and of
nearly every city-that have the fewest
trees and the least parks are the ones
that usually have the worst public infrastructure
and where the poor and most
vulnerable populations usually live. If
you look at the city from above, you can
quickly see based on tree coverage and
canopy where the people with more
resources live in relation to the people
with less. We mapped those areas so
that, during a heat wave, we could make
sure to deploy our resources effectively.
We are still working on deploying this,
but the idea is to have more standby fire
and water trucks around the green areas
because we were worried about fires
starting, and we have ambulances positioned
in the neighborhoods where the
most vulnerable people live. In Greece,
emergency services are mostly nationalized,
so Athens doesn't have complete
control. But the government has made
sure to give us support during heat waves
in the areas that are most needed.
It sounds like Athens has put a lot of
thought into this. Is this something
that is being emulated in other
cities around the world?
There are a lot of cities doing great things
to plan and prepare for heat. In the United
States, New York has been at the forefront,
along with Miami-Dade, Phoenix, and Los
Angeles. All have put into effect great heat
action plans and are really at the forefront
of preparing for and protecting people
during heat waves. Anybody can go online
and go look at the Phoenix heat action
plan or Miami-Dade plan, and they can
get the gist of what people are doing in the
States. The city that was on the forefront
of this and influenced a lot of other cities
around the world is Ahmedabad, India.
They had an incredible heat wave there
that killed a lot of people in 2010; they lost
close to 1,400 people. So they created this
heat action plan in 2013 and developed
the basic pillars that have been adopted
in many other cities. The pillars are public
awareness and community outreach; early
warning systems and interagency coordination;
capacity building among health
care professionals; and trying to reduce
heat exposure and promoting adaptive
measures, such as the Ahmedabad Cool
Roofs program. A lot of other cities have
used these concepts to create their own
action plans. I think the main pillars
of awareness raising, of creating capacity
among health care professionals,
and creating early warning systems and
measures where people can get protection
are some of the most basic ways that cities
have been dealing with the issue.
Let's say you live in a city that's
maybe not as big as Athens or
Phoenix, but you have a lot of vulnerable
people in your community
who are susceptible to heat. Where
do you begin this process of
planning to mitigate the risk?
I began by holding workshops. I met
with the most vulnerable communities
as well as the organizations that support
them to try and understand how they
perceive heat and to try and understand
the problems that they face in their
everyday lives because of heat. We often
project things on people and on communities,
but it's important that we really
understand how they get information,
what problems they face in their everyday
life, and how their life is made more
difficult with temperature rises. Only
then can you understand the things that
could make their lives better.
After that, I think it's important to
speak with the universities and the scientists
and get their points of view. Ask them
what they expect as heat rises. Ask them
what areas of the city are the most vulnerable
to extreme heat. If you don't have the
scientists available, you can look at where
there are no trees. Find the areas that
are the most socioeconomically vulnerable
and the places where people gather.
One of the most basic but most important
things that a city can do is create shade
and get water in those places.
What advice would you give city
leaders and agencies about
preparing for increasing heat?
Check out other cities' heat plans to see
how they're handling it. Start collaborating
with different departments and
create lines of responsibility. Heat affects
a lot of different aspects of the city, so you
really need to coordinate the response.
This is why it's great to have a chief heat
officer. But if you don't have a chief heat
officer, it's good to put somebody in
charge that can bring together a more
horizontal and systemic approach to
heat. It's not just the heat, it's everything
that comes with it-drought, wildfires,
economic suppression, pressures on our
EMS and other emergency systems, pressure
on our electricity and water systems.
The whole thing needs coordination.
JESSE ROMAN is senior editor at NFPA Journal
and the host of The NFPA Podcast.
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