Multnomah County may open cooling shelters Friday amid excess heat warning

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — As the Portland area stares down the prospect of entering triple digits this weekend, local government officials said they are putting plans in place to prepare for the worst.

KOIN 6 News spoke with Multnomah County Health officials on Monday, who at that time said they didn't anticipate opening cooling centers this week. However, with an updated forecast and an excessive heat warning in effect beginning Thursday from the National Weather Service for this weekend, county officials have now changed their tune.

In the past 24-hours, forecasted temperature and heat index levels have risen to the point that the county's Office of Emergency Management is now saying they are planning to potentially open cooling centers Friday. However, the decision won't be made officially until the day before.

Multnomah County Health Officer Dr. Richard Bruno told KOIN 6 News the upcoming heatwave could be particularly dangerous.

"When we have a bunch of heat happening all at the same time, like you know, getting into the 90s and hundreds, our bodies are not quite able to thermoregulate or be able to cool off in an efficient way. So, people are more at risk of heat-related illness when the weather heats up like this," he said.

KOIN 6 also spoke with some community members who said they were worried they'd be left out in the heat. One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she signed up for the City of Portland's Cooling Portland Program, which is designed to connect low-income residents to air conditioning.

"It would be a great opportunity for people if they could actually hire more people, actually get the assistance out to everyone so people don't have to suffer," she said.

However, she said she was shocked by the information she received from calling 3-11 after not hearing back on the status of her unit.

"They said the reality is it's gonna be 3-60 days before you receive a unit. Because of the backlog she said there were about 4,000 plus people that were on the waitlist."

KOIN 6 News spoke with program representatives who said the year-round program is not an emergency response. They admitted thousands are waiting for a unit following a recent spike in demand and that they've been prioritizing seniors and people with medical conditions.

The city aims to install 15,000 cooling units to residents in need by 2027. Numbers show they've reached 61% of that goal, having installed more than 9,200 units so far. This year alone, they installed more than 2,000 units.

The woman KOIN 6 spoke with waiting for her unit, who is unemployed, said living without A.C. has become a major stressor.

"It's very disruptive, and I do feel for everyone else who's in the same thing and then the city's just like 'maybe get to a cooling shelter that might be up and part of the time,'" she said.

Multnomah County officials said they will be closely monitoring the number of heat-related emergency calls and visits over the next week. Should the county decide to open the cooling centers, they will have medical vans onsite for the first time in its history to help treat people for heat-related illnesses, officials said.