Aging and Low Income, killing People in Extrem Heat this Season
Air Conditioning Seen as Essential in Extreme Heat, Experts Say
PHOENIX (News9): "Air conditioning is not a luxury; it's a necessity," stated Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, which advocates for state energy assistance programs. Wolfe emphasized that the issue is both a public health concern and an affordability challenge.
Those residing in mobile homes, aging trailers, and RVs are particularly vulnerable to inadequate cooling. Last year, nearly a quarter of indoor heat-related deaths in Maricopa County, Arizona, occurred in these types of dwellings, which can turn into sweltering "tin cans" under the intense desert sun.
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Dana Kennedy, AARP's director in Arizona, explained, "Mobile homes can really heat up because they don’t always have the best insulation and are often made of metal." This makes them especially dangerous during heatwaves, which are becoming increasingly common in the region. This weekend, Phoenix is expected to experience temperatures reaching 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius), putting mobile home residents at significant risk.
Patricia SolÃs, executive director of the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience at Arizona State University, has been involved in mapping the impacts of extreme heat on mobile home parks as part of a state preparedness plan. She noted, "People in these dwellings are more exposed to the elements than in other types of housing."
Compounding the problem, some mobile home parks have previously prohibited residents from making modifications to improve cooling, citing aesthetic concerns. However, a new Arizona law enacted this summer now requires parks to allow residents to install cooling measures such as window units, shade awnings, and shutters. This change aims to provide better protection against the extreme heat for those living in vulnerable housing conditions.
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Heat-Related Deaths in Maricopa County Highlight Risks of Indoor Heat Exposure
In Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes Phoenix, 156 of the 645 heat-related deaths last year occurred in indoor environments without adequate cooling. According to public health officials, in most cases, air conditioning units were either not functioning, lacked electricity, or had been turned off.
One such tragic incident involved Shirley Marie Kouplen, who succumbed to extreme heat inside her Phoenix mobile home during a heatwave. The 70-year-old widow, who had diabetes and high blood pressure, lost power when the extension cord supplying her electricity was disconnected. Emergency responders recorded her body temperature at 107.1°F (41.7°C). Kouplen was transported to a hospital but ultimately passed away.
Kouplen's mobile home, situated on Lot 60, remains in a dilapidated state, surrounded by a chain-link fence with a locked gate and an overgrown dirt driveway. It is unclear how the power cord became unplugged or whether she had an active electricity account.
The incident underscores the severe consequences of losing access to air conditioning in extreme heat. Texas A&M University climate scientist Andrew Dessler remarked, "Losing your air conditioning is now a life-threatening event." Reflecting on his experiences growing up in hot, humid Houston in the 1970s, Dessler noted that while losing air conditioning was uncomfortable, it wasn't considered lethal. Today, however, the stakes are much higher as extreme heat becomes a more frequent and dangerous threat.
Arizona is among 19 states with shut-off protections, leaving about half of the U.S. population without safeguards against losing electricity during the summer, the National Energy Assistance Directors Association said in a new study.
Almost 20% of very-low income families have no air conditioning at all, especially in places like Washington state where they weren’t commonly installed before climate-fueled heat waves grew increasingly stronger, frequent and longer lasting.
In the Pacific Northwest, several hundred people died during a 2021 heat wave, prompting Portland, Oregon, to launch a program to provide portable cooling units to vulnerable, low-income people. (Seattletimes)
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