A cool idea to maintain, just in case

Do we need to rethink the value of cooling centers during periods of extreme heat in the suburbs?

You might think so if you take a report last week by Daily Herald staff writer Ashok Selvam at face value. The report found that at the peak of last week’s heat wave, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees and comfort indexes adding another 10, cooling centers in the suburbs were sitting unused. Lake County emergency Management Specialist Michael Jackson Sr. found centers idle in Antioch, Fremont Township, Highland Park and Wauconda. The Salvation Army Community Center in Des Plaines was empty when the Daily Herald sent a photographer there on Thursday. Cooling centers were also reported unused in Hoffman Estates and Prospect Heights.

Does that make them a waste? Hardly.

It does suggest that communities and emergency planners should evaluate their practices in establishing and publicizing cooling centers, making sure they’re accessible, useful, and comfortable and that people who may need them know they’re available. But it seems likely that few of the suburban centers will be found wanting in those regards, or at least that only minor adjustments may be needed.

Instead, we all may want to embrace the realization that cooling centers are a valuable protection against unforeseeable disaster at a time when weather conditions increase the possibilities of unforeseeable disaster.

With some notable exceptions, ComEd generally managed to stay ahead of this particular heat wave, helping households and businesses keep the air conditioning running despite record levels of usage, and that surely was a factor in the level of need for additional cooling centers.

Fortunately, too, experts like Jackson note, it appears that the standard refuges from the heat during the most brutal parts of the day — recreation centers, libraries, shopping centers and other public places — were able to handle the demand this time around.

But that’s not always going to be the case. It’s widely acknowledged that the region, and Chicago in particular, was caught unprepared in 1995, when at least 700 deaths were attributed to a July heat wave. Community cooling centers help ensure that won’t happen, and they remain particularly valuable for the most susceptible citizens — the elderly, people with conditions like asthma that are exacerbated by excessive heat and families that simply cannot afford air conditioning.

Some experts — including Eric Klinenberg, whose 2002 book “Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago” detailed the 1995 tragedy — assert that summer heat spells kill more people than all other disasters combined. We all may joke that Chicagoans should not be surprised by scorching temperatures in July and August, but the fact is they are not to be taken lightly. Many cooling centers may not have been needed this time around. We’re glad for that. We also hope they’ll still be around next time — just in case.