A communication transmitted from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 18-81, regarding a report on opening a public building during extreme heat events

TO: Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager FROM: Claude Jacob, Chief Public Health Officer Branville Bard, Jr., Police Commissioner Gerard Mahoney, Acting Fire Chief Owen O’Riordan, Commissioner, Public Works Maria McCauley, Director of Libraries Susan Pacheco, Council on Aging, Human Services Christina Giacobbe, Director of Emergency Communications Ellen Semonoff, Assistant City Manager, Human Services DATE: January 9, 2019 SUBJECT: Response to Policy Order #4, adopted 7/30/18 Excerpt of Order: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to report back to the City Council on efforts made to ensure that at least one public building at an accessible location can be open on a Sunday or holiday that coincides with an extreme heat event; and be it further that the City Manager be and hereby is requested to report back to the City Council on what efforts will be made to communicate the above information to the public, as a way to ensure public safety during an extreme heat event. (For full text: http://cambridgema.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?ID=7416) The City of Cambridge has a heat emergency response guide for addressing heat emergencies. This guide is based on a standard emergency management cycle framework that includes four phases: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Representatives from public safety, public health, public works and other city agencies, along with state and federal stakeholders, are continually observing events and applying lessons learned when appropriate to all facets of emergency planning. As is good practice, emergency plans in the city are periodically reviewed and revised as needed. A fundamental principle in emergency planning is that there is “no one size fits all” approach, and response to any event is incident specific. However, having a plan provides a structured framework for guiding decision-making and managing response efforts. Specifically, the current Cambridge Heat Emergency Response Guide lays out the four phases of the emergency management cycle: pre-season plan reviews, steady state monitoring, activation steps tied to specific triggers and initiated through the appropriate chain of command, and post-season debrief and evaluation. In consultation with the City Manager, the city departments with roles and responsibilities delineated in the current plan include fire, police, emergency communications, public health, and human services (Council on Aging). The Cambridge Heat Emergency Response Guide was last updated in 2014. Although this plan referenced the context of climate change, the recent release of the Cambridge Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment provides more nuanced predictions of the increased risk of extreme heat and other hazards facing the city. In October 2018, representatives from fire/emergency

2 management, police, public health, and Council on Aging convened to begin the process of updating the heat response guide to align it with other city planning efforts. With regard to cooling shelters, representatives from fire, public works, public health, the public library and other city departments met in September 2018 to discuss the feasibility of offering extended availability of cooling shelters during extreme heat events. There was also a discussion about past experiences and limitations with cooling shelter operation. Concerns were raised about the availability of city staff to provide coverage on Sundays in public buildings; the attractiveness to residents of city cooling shelters when there are other air conditioned places where people naturally gather, such as retail shopping malls and similar establishments; and the challenge of providing accessible transportation to cooling shelters for individuals with mobility needs. In addition, many public housing complexes have air conditioned “cool” rooms that might be more convenient to those residents than travelling to a city cooling shelter. The Main Library which is a four-story building and 105,000 square feet of open space, has been suggested as a potential site although this would considered to be a fairly large space to open up as a cooling center. Also, it has been noted that when cooling shelters have been activated in the past in the Cambridge, low attendance has been an issue. In a scenario in which a large number of people do come to a cooling shelter, prior planning would need to have occurred to address considerations such as having activities for children, ensuring availability of food and beverages, and ensuring appropriate food safety. In November of 2018, 26 City of Cambridge employees representing various diverse departments received training from the American Red Cross preparing, assisting in the resourcing, opening, operating and closing of a shelter if needed. Next Steps Given the complexity of these concerns and inherent challenges in activating, staffing, and operating cooling shelter, as well as accommodating people with functional or access needs, it is recommended that next steps include: • Convening representatives from fire, police, emergency communications and public health to review and update the current Cambridge Heat Emergency Response Guide. • Convening a broader group of city departments (e.g., fire, police, human services, public health, community development, public works) to align the Cambridge Heat Emergency Response Guide with the city’s Climate Change Preparedness and Resilience Plan and any other relevant plans. • The “2019” Cambridge Heat Emergency Response Guide will be made available by Spring 2019.