5 heat-related deaths so far this summer in Chicago area

CHICAGO (AP) - Officials say there have been five heat-related deaths so far this summer in the Chicago area.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Cook County Medical Examiner's office said Saturday that the latest two heat-related deaths happened in Chicago. Autopsies determined that heat played a role in the July 15 death of a 66-year-old man as well as that of a 56-year-old man on July 21.

The five deaths underscore various steps the city has taken since July 1995 when more than 700 people died during a blistering heat wave. Since then, the city has stepped up its efforts to do things like open dozens of cooling centers, conduct welfare checks on the elderly and dispatch air-conditioned buses to neighborhoods where can serve as mobile cooling centers.