Breanna Reeves
The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning as temperatures across the Inland Empire continue to reach triple digits. Coachella Valley hit a record temperature during the 4th of July weekend when temperatures rose to 124 degrees.
With excessive heat advisories being issued across Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, vulnerable populations are at risk for heat-related illnesses, especially individuals who are houseless, young children and adults over 65, individuals with certain health conditions, and laborers.
“Extreme heat can pose serious health risks,” San Bernardino County Health Officer Dr. Michael A. Sequeira stated before the 4th of July holiday. “The elderly and people with chronic disease, especially involving the heart and lungs, have a much lower tolerance for the harmful effects of heat.”
Symptoms of heat-related illnesses often vary by individuals, but can include light-headedness, headaches, dizziness or flushed skin, all of which indicate heat exposure. Exposure to prolonged heat can also lead to more severe symptoms like nausea, palpitations and muscle aches.
“When we’re dealing with prolonged heat, like we have currently with our multiple days of excessive heat warning, that is dangerous for all of the community because there are multiple days of heat with very little respite and potentially a limited ability to cool down,” said Misty Plumley, branch chief for Riverside University Health System.
Riverside County Public Health monitors heat-related illnesses throughout the county on their Heat-Related Illness Dashboard. The dashboard includes a count of heat-related emergency department visits and demographic data such as gender, age, region and race/ethnicity.
As of July 11, there have been 627 heat-related emergency department visits since the start of 2024, according to the dashboard. While there were 32 heat-related deaths reported in 2023, no heat-related deaths have been reported for this year to date.
“I do expect that we probably had some that have not been recorded yet. There is a bit of a lag with the time it takes for the deaths to be registered and entered into our data system,” explained Kevin Meconis, senior epidemiologist at Riverside University Health System. It can take about a month or two for data to update and become visible through the county’s system.
In a region with a large logistics industry dominated by Amazon warehouses,a growing homeless population and worsening air quality, extreme heat is another factor that threatens the health of residents and underserved communities.
For houseless and transient individuals, access to potable water is a luxury. Oftentimes, water isn’t free; access to water depends on the kindness of merchants; or homeless individuals lack proper storage space.
“For our unhoused neighbors, access to water is very, very slim,” said Claire Jefferson-Glipa, executive director of Family Promise. “So when temperatures are insane, and not even cooling down in the night, it really makes it so that these temperatures are life-threatening and dangerous.”
While cooling centers are open across both Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, access to these places have limitations. Cooling centers are closed on the weekends and close at varying hours depending on the location. Some cooling centers are closed on holidays, like on the 4th of July, which was one of the hottest days in Riverside County.
“We do have an unhoused population in the Coachella Valley that is harder to reach in that regard. They are definitely more challenged to be protected from the heat during this time,” Plumley explained.
The county enlists the support and partnership of community-based organizations, county outreach teams, crisis assessment teams (CAT) and faith-based organizations to connect houseless individuals with temporary shelter and cooling centers.
Warehouse workers vulnerable to extreme heat
Last summer, workers from the Inland Empire Amazon Workers United (IEAWU) at the Amazon KSBD air hub in San Bernardino, the largest air facility on the West Coast, reported unsafe working conditions and demanded better heat safety protections. They also filed a complaint with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), who opened an on-site inspection.
“One of the things that I like to emphasize is that whenever we are talking about these kinds of hazardous working conditions, people are suffering them — you suffer a heat illness,” explained Deogracia Cornelio, the education director at the Warehouse Worker Resource Center (WWRC).
Earlier this year, Cal/OSHA cited Amazon five times for endangering workers in extreme heat conditions. Last year was recorded as the hottest year on record, but this summer may break that record as temperatures in San Bernardino County were expected to reach 107 degrees in some parts of the region between July 11 and July 12, according to the National Weather Service.
“Imagine doing manual labor at 87 degrees or 86. It’s really painful to do, and it impacts people cognitively. It impacts these people physically, therefore, it increases the possibilities that people can have accidents and be injured at work,” Cornelio said.
Warehouse workers and advocates have argued that heat-related illnesses should be considered under Cal/OSHA’s definition of an imminent hazard complaint. Cal/OSHA defines a hazard as imminent under three conditions: a threat of death or serious physical harm; presence of toxic substances that causes a health hazard; and/or a threat is imminent or immediate.
In June, Cal/OSHA voted to implement protections for indoor workers, giving them the right to take breaks and have access to cool-down areas when temperatures in indoor workplaces exceed 82 degrees.
According to the state’s report, approximately 196,000 establishments and approximately 1.4 million employees in California could be impacted by the regulation.
Heat protection for indoor workers now means both indoor and outdoor workers in California are entitled to access to shade or cool down areas, water and breaks.
While these protections are in place, Cornelio encouraged workers to be aware of symptoms related to heat illnesses, to drink water as needed, to take breaks and to wear light clothing.
“We have to, in spite of these structural barriers, protect ourselves. We have to be aware and diligent about cooling down, turning off the lights [and] opening the windows when the sun goes down,” Cornelio said.
With the Inland Empire lacking an abundance of green spaces and having high levels of air pollution, these factors contribute to and exacerbate heat-related illnesses. As the entire state grapples with excessive heat warnings and burgeoning wildfires, these effects are indicative of an ongoing global warming crisis.