Hundreds of people died during B.C.鈥檚 historic heat wave, most of them seniors living alone in private homes, B.C.鈥檚 chief coroner said.
At least 486 sudden and unexpected deaths were reported over the past five days, Lisa Lapointe said Wednesday 鈥� well above the 165 such deaths that would normally occur in the province over a five-day period. An update on the numbers is expected today.
鈥淲e suspect that many of the deaths are attributable to the heat 鈥� we won鈥檛 with certainty know an exact number until we have all our data entered and we鈥檝e done the analysis 鈥� but, absolutely, we do know that many people, have been found in residences that are very, very warm and not ventilated,鈥� Lapointe said. A preliminary analysis should be ready in the next two to three months.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said the report 鈥渨ill be crucial in how we move forward鈥� with emergency planning 鈥渋f and when an event happens like this again.鈥�
Anecdotally, the deaths were among older people with underlying health conditions who lived alone in private residences such as condos, said Lapointe. In such cases, there was no one to account for their final hours.
There have been about three heat-related deaths in the past five years, according to the province. 鈥淲e have not seen extreme heat events in B.C., certainly not like this,鈥� Lapointe said.
A death is recorded as 鈥渉eat-related鈥� if excessive heat is believed to have contributed to the person鈥檚 death 鈥� even if they have underlying health 颅conditions, she said.
Coroners have been working around the clock with first responders and in some cases have been delayed in responding to reported deaths. More resources have been allocated, to bring down the wait times, Lapointe said.
Dr. Ben Williams, chief medical officer of Island Health, couldn鈥檛 say how many sudden deaths on the Island were suspected to be related to heat, but he reported a 鈥渟ubstantial number of heat-related visits to emergency departments.鈥�
People with underlying health conditions, particularly heart conditions and blood 颅pressure problems, will struggle in extreme heat, he said.
鈥淏ut it鈥檚 generally as we get older, and we become more frail, we have less capacity to deal with changes in the environment and so we do see that the very young and the very old, and 颅people with chronic health聽 conditions have significant 颅challenges in extreme heat.鈥�
The coroners service has participated in earthquake and marine disaster exercises, but 鈥渉aving experienced this event, over the last few days, we will all be looking at what planning do we have in place for extreme heat events in terms of response as agencies, but also in terms of response for our family and our employees,鈥� said Lapointe.
鈥淭his is definitely an 颅opportunity for everybody in the province to take a look at what do we need to do differently,鈥� she said.
Asked what more the 颅province could have done to 颅prevent heat-related deaths, Farnworth said the province has 鈥� since June 25 鈥� supported local communities and First Nations through Emergency Management B.C. to ensure 颅cooling centres opened and there was transportation to and from them, and staff wages and overtime were covered.
In Oregon, the death toll from the heat reached 79, the Oregon state medical examiner said Thursday. Most occurred in Multnomah County, which encompasses Portland.
Washington state authorities linked more than 20 deaths to the heat, but they said that number was likely to rise.
Seattle, Portland and other U.S. cities broke all-time heat records, with temperatures in some places reaching above 46 C.
鈥� With a file from The Associated Press
