{"id":1582,"date":"2025-07-11T13:08:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T13:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/1582\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T13:08:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T13:08:03","slug":"thirty-years-after-historic-heat-wave-chicagoans-are-still-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/1582\/","title":{"rendered":"Thirty years after historic heat wave, Chicagoans are still at risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three decades after Chicago\u2019s devastating heat wave<\/a> left more than 700 people dead, city efforts to keep people protected from extreme weather continue to fall short.<\/p>\n

This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of that disaster. Many lessons were learned from the five-day stretch in July 1995, and the city was forced to make changes that included creation of an emergency management department.<\/p>\n

But City Hall still fails to take simple steps, including providing enough cool places for people to go to escape the oppressive heat, critics say<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Planning before dangerous temperatures rise needs to be much better, they say. In addition, heat warnings fail to reach the most vulnerable people in the city, the very same people who are left without options to cool off at a location managed by the city.<\/p>\n

For the past two years, a group of Northwestern University researchers has studied tens of thousands of data points to figure out who is most likely to get sick or die from extremely hot weather \u2014 and what to do about it. They\u2019ve met with numerous members of communities, health professionals and urban planners.<\/p>\n

Their goal is to use granular information community by community to pinpoint whether Chicago\u2019s unrelenting heat waves will create stress that puts some people more at risk than others. The researchers will present their findings along with 30 recommendations, including plans for more cooling centers, to Mayor Brandon Johnson <\/a>next week as part of a ceremony recognizing the anniversary of the city\u2019s deadly heat wave of 1995.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s to save lives but also to improve quality of life,\u201d says Teresa Horton, a professor in Northwestern\u2019s Department of Anthropology, who is involved in the project known as Defusing Disasters. \u201cThis gives us information to be proactive for extreme heat events rather than reactive.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Elijah<\/p>\n

Elijah Paula walks under a water-spray at the Hale Pool splash pad in Clearing on the Southwest Side during last month\u2019s heat wave. Northwestern researchers plan to present the city with 30 recommendations for protecting residents from extreme heat. <\/p>\n

Talia Sprague\/Chicago Sun-Times<\/p>\n

A key piece of the research involved bringing community members into the process to rank the top recommendations, a process that is being finalized.<\/p>\n

During each heat wave, advocates for the homeless, seniors and the disabled complain that the city doesn\u2019t have enough cooling locations. And there are almost no options for people to seek relief during hot nights.<\/p>\n

Heat-related deaths usually under-reported<\/p>\n

More than 1,000 people went to hospital emergency rooms because of heat during a recent three-year period, according to the city. Heat-related deaths continue each year, though the official numbers are believed to be under-reported and the actual tally for deaths are hard to quantify. For instance, the city\u2019s public health department reports only one death from heat in 2023.<\/p>\n

The recommendations from the Northwestern-led effort follow ideas from more than three dozen City Council members delivered to City Hall last year to protect homeless people during heatwaves.<\/p>\n

Some advocates say the city could learn lessons from Cook County emergency planners, who, for instance, provide 24-hour cooling centers in the suburbs.<\/p>\n

The need to act is becoming more urgent as climate change causes temperatures to shoot up worldwide. The hottest summer on record in Chicago was in 2020, and last year the city recorded the warmest year in history. The city experienced an early heat wave last month, part of a trend that points to hotter days and nights both at the beginning and end of summer. Hot nights are perilous for people who don\u2019t have air conditioning or don\u2019t use it because they can\u2019t pay high electricity bills.<\/p>\n

The forecast isn\u2019t getting any better.<\/p>\n

\u201cProjections show continued increases in extreme heat through the end of the century, making work like Defusing Disasters critical for lifesaving adaptation,\u201d says Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford. \u201cThe magnitude of increasing heat over the next several decades is dependent on greenhouse gas emissions. So, a rapid switch away from fossil fuels is necessary to ensure we don\u2019t see the worst warming and impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question is whether Johnson will listen to the proposals, which were actually an outgrowth of the city\u2019s own climate action plan. Johnson is expected to join researchers for a gathering at Columbus Park Tuesday to commemorate the 1995 disaster and to hear the potential policy solutions.<\/p>\n

Previous research from the city showed trends, including wide variances in heat depending on a neighborhood\u2019s location. Someone living on the Southwest Side may experience temperatures more than 20 degrees hotter than someone living along the lake on the North Side, the city\u2019s research showed.<\/p>\n

Last year, Olusimbo Ige, Johnson\u2019s public health commissioner pushed out the city\u2019s top expert on extreme heat<\/a>, raising questions about the mayor\u2019s commitment to climate-related initiatives. <\/p>\n

People on the ground, helping some of the city\u2019s most vulnerable navigate during extreme temperatures, are skeptical.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Workers transport bags of ice at Pride Fest in Lake View during June\u2019s heat wave.<\/p>\n

\u2018Cooling centers\u2019 that actually are spray sites at parks<\/p>\n

While the city recently touted almost 300 cooling centers during the last heat wave, many of them were spray features at parks or were closed on weekends, says Monica Dillon, a Northwest Side volunteer who helps homeless people.<\/p>\n

City departments, including the Department of Family and Support Services, pass the buck, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just not understanding why they\u2019re not more accountable to these vulnerable groups. We\u2019ve seen this over and over. Someone has to step up,\u201d Dillon says.<\/p>\n

Centers operated by family and support services have limited hours, Dillon says.<\/p>\n

The department, which provides a number of services to the elderly, homeless and others, activates its six community centers as cooling sites during heat waves. One at 10 S. Kedzie Ave. can expand hours into the evening and weekends, according to a statement to the Sun-Times. The other locations typically operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.<\/p>\n

The department also operates 21 senior centers that can provide cooling mostly from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the statement added.<\/p>\n

Unhoused people are encouraged to call 311 for help with shelter.<\/p>\n

During last month\u2019s heat wave, Dillon says she tried to help an 80-year-old man in a Northwest Side park find a place to cool off. When she called 311, she was told to send him to a senior center that was in fact closed, she says.<\/p>\n

Multiple city departments are involved in responding to heat. One of the primary agencies is the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, which was created just months after the 1995 heat wave.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n 30 years after Chicago\u2019s deadly 1995 heat wave, sociologist Eric Klinenberg reflects on what went wrong\n <\/p>\n

Listen<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n A first responder, resident and journalist remember the 1995 heat wave\n <\/p>\n

Listen<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n Local groups protecting the most vulnerable from potentially deadly heatwaves\n <\/p>\n

Listen<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n How does extreme heat affect your health now and down the road?\n <\/p>\n

Listen<\/p>\n

[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]
\n \u00a0\n <\/p>\n

In a statement, the emergency management office says it \u201cis aware of the Northwestern University-led project Defusing Disasters and has been part of conversations with aldermen, city departments and sister agencies on the dangers of heat and how we can improve our coordination efforts to protect the well-being and safety of our residents, particularly the most vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other cooling locations may include police stations, park fieldhouses and city college locations. However, sometimes, \u201cthere\u2019s not even a sign on the door saying you are at the right place,\u201d Dillon says.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Bodies<\/p>\n

Bodies are loaded into a refrigerated truck during the heat wave of 1995. More than 700 people died during that hot stretch of days in July. <\/p>\n

Better heat-related communication needed for communities of color<\/p>\n

In 1995, most of those who died lived in South Side and West Side neighborhoods. The city continues to struggle protecting those areas, community organizers say.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment is now for people to recognize how serious this is,\u201d says John Paul Jones, president of Sustainable Englewood Initiatives, who has advocated for his community since the 1980s. \u201cThirty recommendations is a good start to help the mayor step it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones, who is involved with the Defusing Disasters work, would like to see better communication between the city and residents in low-income communities of color. For instance, he estimates that more than a third of residents in his South Side community, Englewood, have little to no access to the internet. Much of the communications during heat waves are web based, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re dealing with the least connected community and a very vulnerable community,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three decades after Chicago\u2019s devastating heat wave left more than 700 people dead, city efforts to keep people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-1582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}