Breanna Reeves
As another heat wave hits Southern California, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) issued an ozone advisory on Tuesday, effective until Friday, Sept. 6. The advisory is targeted toward cities across Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, including Riverside, Ontario and Menifee, among others.
The advisory noted forecasted air quality impacts include a “multi-day extreme ozone (smog) event” and a warning that the air quality index will potentially reach an unhealthy level for sensitive groups in inland regions that include Lake Elsinore, Corona and Hemet.
In addition, the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat advisory across San Bernardino and Riverside County Valleys, including the cities of San Bernardino, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Riverside and Corona.
“The summer heat can be dangerous, and everyone should take the right steps to stay safe. Heat-related illnesses like heat exhaustion and heat stroke can be very serious, especially for those who are more vulnerable,” San Bernardino County Health Officer Dr. Michael Sequeira stated in a health advisory.
Individuals vulnerable to heat-related illness are those who work outdoors, older adults, children, people experiencing homelessness who sleep outdoors and individuals who work in hot environments such as firefighters.
Firefighters in Riverside County have been battling the Record Fire, a fire that broke out in San Jacinto on Sept. 1. Caused by a person, the fire began at 650 acres and six firefighters were initially transported to hospitals in the area with minor medical symptoms, according to an initial Cal Fire report. The Record Fire is now 78% contained.
The combination of extreme heat, smoke from the Record Fire and existing pollutants in the region can lead to worse health outcomes for residents in the region. A recent report commissioned by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and the California Department of Insurance examined extreme heat events from 2013 to 2022. The study found that, across the state, there were more than 5,000 hospitalizations and nearly 10,600 emergency department (ED) visits associated with the episodes of extreme heat evaluated in the study.
In Riverside County, there have been 1,234 ED visits in 2024 so far, according to Riverside University Health System’s Heat Related Illness Dashboard. At this time, San Bernardino County does not have reliable data related to health-related deaths or ED visits, according to Department of Public Health Communications Officer, Francis Delapaz.
Delapaz shared that San Bernardino County is in the process of developing a publicly accessible dashboard that will track “hot weather-related” ED visits, hospitalization and deaths.