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A4 U.S. NEWS
Monday 30 May 2022
Deaths of 3 women in early heat wave raise questions, fears

CHICAGO (AP) — Tem- invisible disaster that took
peratures barely climbed more than twice as many
into the 90s and only for lives as the Great Chicago
a couple of days. But the Fire of 1871.
discovery of the bodies of That realization led to a
three women inside a Chi- system in which city work-
cago senior housing facility ers call the elderly and frail
this month left the city look- and turn city buildings into
ing for answers to questions 24-hour cooling centers
that were supposed to be when temperatures be-
addressed after a longer come oppressive.
and hotter heat wave killed What happened this month
more than 700 people is a reminder that the safe-
nearly three decades ago. guards in place to make
Now, the city — and the sure people don’t freeze
country — is facing the re- to death because they
ality that because of cli- have not paid their heat-
mate change, deadly heat ing bills often do not exist to
waves can strike just about prevent people from over-
anywhere, don’t only fall in heating in their homes.
the height of summer and “We have nothing for air
need not last long. conditioning,” Hadden
“Hotter and more danger- said.
ous heat waves are com- Veldarin Jackson, Sr., center, talks about receiving the call that his mother, Janice Reed, had died One expert isn’t surprised.
ing earlier, in May ... and as his wife Adjoa Jackson, left, becomes emotional, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in Chicago. (Jose M. “We recognize people
the other thing is we are Osorio/Chicago Tribune via AP) need heating in cold
getting older and more weather and set up pro-
people are living alone,” whose bodies were found building is located said she outside the apartments. grams, financial assistance,
said Eric Klinenberg, a New in the James Sneider Apart- experienced stifling tem- Part of the problem, experts to enable that but we don’t
York University sociologist, ments on May 14. But the peratures in the complex say, is that communities na- do that for cooling,” said
who wrote “Heat Wave: A victims’ families have al- when she visited, including tionwide are still learning Gregory Wellenius, a Bos-
Social Autopsy of Disaster in ready filed or plan to file in one unit where heat sen- how deadly heat can be. ton University professor of
Chicago.” about the 1995 wrongful death lawsuits sors hit 102 degrees. It took the sight of refrig- environmental health who
heat wave. “It’s a formula against the companies “These are senior residents, erated trucks being filled has studied heat-related
for disaster.” that own and manage the residents with health condi- with dead bodies after Chi- deaths. “But subsidies for
The Cook County Medical buildings. tions (and) they should not cago’s 1995 heat wave to cooling are really contro-
Examiner’s office has yet The City Council member be in these conditions,” Al- drive home the message versial (because) for many
to determine the causes of whose ward includes the derman Maria Hadden said that the city was woefully people cooling is seen as a
death for the three women neighborhood where the in a Facebook video shot unprepared for a silent and luxury item.”q
Critical fire condition warnings issued across US Southwest

ters) of forest in rugged ter- and to be careful with pos- and other personnel were
rain east of Santa Fe since sible fire sources. assigned to the fire, which
being started in April by ”The last thing we need was contained around 48%
two planned burns. right now is another igni- of its perimeter.
Crews were patrolling par- tion,” said Jayson Coil, an Initial estimates say the
tially burned areas and operations section chief. fire has destroyed at least
clearing and cutting con- Forecasts called for wind 330 homes but state offi-
tainment lines, including gusts up to 50 mph (80 cials expect the number of
primary ones near the kph), with critical fire condi- homes and other structures
fire as bulldozers scraped tions continuing into Mon- that have burned to rise to
backup lines farther away. day, followed by more more than 1,000 as more
The National Weather Ser- favorable weather later assessments are done.
vice issued red flag warn- in the coming week, said Elsewhere, 150 firefighters
ings of critical fire conditions Bruno Rodriguez, the fire battled a wind-driven fire
for parts of Arizona, Colora- management team’s me- that burned 9 square miles
do, Kansas, Nevada, New teorologist. (24 square kilometers) of
Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas The strong winds could fan grass, brush and salt cedar
Carson Hot Shots Henry Hornberger, left, and Tyler Freeman cut and Utah. Those conditions flames and cause the fire about 14 miles (22.5 kilome-
up a hollow tree that was burning on the inside, Monday May are combination of strong to jump containment lines ters) southwest of Parker,
23, 2022, as they and their co-workers work on hot spots from
the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire in the Carson National Forest wind, low relative humidity and race forward, said Arizona. Winds up to 30
west of Chacon, N.M. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal and dry vegetation. John Chest, a fire opera- mph forced the California
via AP) The return of return of dri- tions manager. blaze to jump the Colorado
er and warmer weather “Imagine traveling in your River into Arizona on Satur-
(AP) - Warnings of critical of the nation’s largest ac- with stronger winds posed car and the fire can out- day afternoon.
fire conditions blanketed tive wildfire. a threat of increased fire pace you. That’s the kind The fire forced the evacu-
much of the U.S. South- The 7-week-old fire, the activity over the Memorial of extreme fire behavior ation of a recreational
west on Saturday, as crews largest in New Mexico his- Day weekend, prompting that we’re talking about,” vehicle park after starting
in northern New Mexico tory, has burned 491 square officials to urge the public Chester said. Thursday and was 44% con-
worked to stop the growth miles (1,272 square kilome- to secure vehicle chains Nearly 3,000 firefighters tained, officials said.q