From looking at the northern hemisphere summer and the declaration of El Nino we can expect our coming summer to be hot, extremely hot. New maximum temperature records are likely to be set.

More people die due to heat related causes with extreme heat than any other major weather related event. Scientists have already forecast that at some stage in the next few years we may see 50C temperatures in Sydney and Melbourne.

Merribek Council passed at its 13 September Council meeting a resolution with three actions:

• Council Officer report to asesses what Council facilities can be used for heat respite.
• Consults with Blacktown City Council in Western Sydney regarding their experience with heat refuges (Cooling Centres)
• Advocacy to the Victorian Government on the State heatwave Plan clarifying the role of local government during extreme heat and what state government resources can be made available.

The last time Merri-bek Council considered cool respite and heat refuges was in 2014. Blacktown City Council in Western Sydney has since done work on cooling centres based on a more recent assessment: Using heat refuges in heatwave emergencies (N Dufty 2022), (PDF) available on the Australian Disaster Resilience Knowledge Hub.

When the BOM notifies a severe or extreme heatwave, Blacktown City Council establish cool centres, particularly in their most vulnerable suburbs. These are likely to be open just during the day (but not explicitly specified) Appear to not include pets.

Here is the Blacktown City Council Beat the Heat webpage that explains Cooling Centres. It appears to be an approach that Merri-bek could take.

Scenario Risk Planning

Lets consider a possible Scenario. A heatwave of 3 or more days with maximum temperatures approaching or even exceeding 50C, combined with high minimum temperatures overnight above 30C so people cannot rest and recover. This could be generated by a stationary High, a heat dome over south east Australia.

This could test our health and resilience. The health threshold for Melbourne is a mean daily temperature of 28C. That is when we may see a 3-13 per cent increase in heat related mortality, according to research. This is lower than the 30C mean temperature level that triggers a Heat Health Alert for the Central Region of Victoria.

Our electricity infrastructure would also be severely tested with blackouts possible. Coal fired power is more prone to outages in hot weather.

This is a real low probability but high risk event. Authorities, such as our Council, need to plan for the safety of citizens for these scenarios.

During a severe or extreme heatwave most people will be expected to shelter in place, in their own homes and possibly workplaces. On a Council level, respite cooling may be important for some people in Council public buildings.

This may be particularly important for vulnerable groups including the elderly, pregnant mothers, renters with poor insulation.

If the heatwave is extreme and protracted there could be a scenario where the Municipal Emergency Management Plan is activated with possible establishment of Emergency Relief Centres.

We think Council should be preparing for worst case scenarios for operation of Council buildings offering cooling respite, or possible operation of emergency relief centres.

Power resilience should be planned for. It is no good saying in the event of a power failure we’ll just hire a diesel generator, when many businesses may also be doing the same risking unavailability.

Hence the question Climate Action Merribek convenor John Englart put to Council on power resilience for Council’s facilities used for cooling respite, or Emergency Relief Centres.

From the Minutes of the Council Meeting held on 13 September 2023

JOHN ENGLART – QUESTION – NOTICE OF MOTION 8.3 COMMUNITY SUPPORT
DURING EXTREME HEAT EVENTS
I speak on behalf of Climate Action Merri-bek to support this motion. I just have a question which I have been unable to get a straight answer to.

Are any of Council’s facilities used for cooling respite power resilient and can continue to provide air-conditioned cooling in the small possibility of power blackouts?

Do any of them have solar and battery power to maintain function during severe or extreme heat events during their hours of opening?

Have Council considered ensuring power resilience as part of the Municipal Emergency
Management Plan (MEMP) operation of Emergency relief centres and to what result?

ANSWER: At the request of the Mayor, Director Community, Eamonn Fennessy responded:
To my knowledge Council doesn’t have any backup generators at its facilities.

In relation to Emergency Relief Centres, as we don’t have back up power, we would seek a generator via our emergency management arrangements or seek an alternative centre to open if this proved to be an issue in a particular area.

We are looking closely at the forth coming summer and our emergency management
planning around that. We are continuing to explore our needs for alternative power sources and also non fossil fuelled power sources, if that’s possible.

Minutes of Merr-bek Council meeting, 13 September 2023

The motion this question related to which was passed unanimously by Council:

8.3 COMMUNITY SUPPORT DURING EXTREME HEAT EVENTS

The original Motion read:

That Council:
1. Receives a report on what community centres will be available for people to seek respite from extreme heat in Merri-bek in the 2023-2024 summer.
2. Seeks state government support for opening up community centres to the public in the event of extreme heat events in the 2023-2024 summer.

An updated motion was put to the Council with the Resolution:

Cr Bolton moved, Cr Panopoulos seconded –
That Council:
1. Receives a report on what community centres will be available for people to seek respite from extreme heat in Merri-bek in the 2023-2024 summer.
2. Consults with Blacktown City Council in Western Sydney regarding their experience with heat refuges (Cooling Centres)
3. Advocates to the state government to update the State Heatwave Plan to more explicitly state the role of local government in a heatwave, including what resources will be made available to local councils to support the community, including measures such as providing Cooling Centres to members of the community who aren’t able to stay cool in their homes.
Carried unanimously

There is no timeline for the report back to Council. One hopes it is before any heatwave can occurr.

We note NSW East Coast has already suffered an extreme heat event with catastrophic fire conditions during early Spring, which caught out the BOM heatwave service.

Background

Climate Action Merribek have been raising issues on preparedness and responses to extreme heat and heatwaves since Cr Bolton’s resolution adopted at the February 2014 Council meeting.

Merri-bek Council

We note that Merri-bek Council has been pro-active in addressing Climate Change in Merri-bek. In 2016 Council developed the Urban Heat Island Effect Action Plan (PDF), and have policies on Trees and Urban Forest Strategy, Cooling the Upfield Corridor (PDF), and is rolling out public drinking water fountains around the municipality for people to keep hydrated, and using Council facilities for heat respite during opening hours.

Council recently in 2023 planted canopy trees in the CB Smith Reserve car park. They won’t have grown much by this summer but important in years to come to reduce the urban heat of the car park black asphalt in years to come.

This is in sharp contrast to the State Government/LXRP expansion project for Merlynston Station Car park, providing only limited trees and no future canopy shading over much of the length of the Upfield Shared Use Path past the station, used by pedestrians and cyclists. Climate Action Merribek argued for canopy shade as pasrt of the project and were essentially ignored..

Provision of Canopy shade should be an important consideration for the bike path to reduce direct heat which becomes a big issue during summer months with increasing extreme heat events.See: Commuter car park upgrade at Merlynston, Dec 2021

Household Preparedness

On an individual and household level we need to be prepared for coping with extreme heat. Have a heat action plan ready.

• Use of air-conditioning.
• Use of pedestal fans.
• Use heavy blinds or shutters on windows exposed to direct sunlight
• Checking on vulnerable people (elderly, children, those with medical conditions)
• Avoid going out in the hottest part of the day.
• Puting water out in our gardens for wildlife.
• Ensuring comfort of our pets by bringing them inside, ensuring they have water.
• Never, ever leave children or pets alone in a hot car
• Are there places we can seek respite from the heat. Libraries, Cooling Centres, Shopping Centres.
• Consider coolest room for sleeping for your body to recuperate. Use of fans.
• Wear lighter coloured clothes if out in the sun
• Stay well hydrated, and be aware of early signs of heat exhaustion and act early
• Keep a watch on BOM Heatwave Service for Australia
• Victoria Department of Health also issues Heat Health warnings when thresholds are exceeded

Heatwaves are a significant silent killer. Heat related deaths surpass all other extreme weather causes of mortality by a significant amount. See March 2016: Expert statement on extreme heat and health and Jan 2015: Heatwaves and Victoria’s Heat Health Alert warning system

References:

N Dufty (2022), Using heat refuges in heatwave emergencies,Australian Disaster Resilience Knowledge Hub. https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/media/9296/ajem-14-2022-02.pdf (Also See below)

Blacktown City Council 2022 report on using heat refuges:

The Heatwave Strategies report for Merri-bek Council presented at October 2014 Council meeting including on use of cooling centres and heat refuges: