The city’s public health board is taking steps to improve Ottawa’s ability to cope with “extreme weather” phenomena such as heat waves, deep freezes and smog incidents.
A report tabled at a recent meeting of the Ottawa Board of Health recommended that the city utilize “heat-island” mapping and undertake “tabletop exercises” to improve the way it deals with extreme weather events.
The report says the city should use such tools to reduce its susceptibility to four major weather-related threats: extreme heat, extreme cold, severe air pollution, and high UV levels.
“What if it’s really hot and the power went out and people lose access to air conditioning?” says Martha Robinson, chair of the city’s extreme weather committee, describing the kind of scenario the local government needs to effectively anticipate.
“From a public health lens, there are some concerns over some of the conditions of heat stroke, heat exhaustion, and other impacts of heat on our city,” says Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury, a member of the health board.
He says there’s a need to prepare for potential crises well ahead of time, “especially knowing that our summers have become warmer and have impacted the air quality and the UV (radiation levels).”
Ottawa Public Health has already conducted tabletop planning exercises, Robinson says.
The extreme weather committee recommends the board undertake a larger-scale exercise involving Health Canada and emergency response teams, she says.
The committee conducts such exercises in order to ensure the city thinks about what kinds of resources it would need in emergency situations, and is prepared to contact the right people when crises occur.
“This tabletop exercise will be planned on a larger scale than just the Ottawa Public Health people sitting around a table,” Robinson says.
“It would involve all of the offices of emergency management from the City of Ottawa and it will be something that Health Canada is going to help us plan.”
The vice-chair of the board, Dr. Atul Kapur, was concerned that Ottawa’s threshold for issuing high UV alerts was too high, as Environment Canada can issue them when the index of severity reaches eight. Ottawa only sounds the alarm in the 10-plus range.
Fleury says the city must use the same measurements as Environment Canada and public announcements have to reflect those standards.
“Sure, today is a warm day and there’s high UV, what does that mean? Stay in shaded area, wear sunscreen, wear a hat, and protect yourself?” he asks.
“I think that some of the discussion with Dr. Kapur was aligning with Environment Canada, but also aligning our message publicly.”.