Cooling centres open across the Okanagan except in Kelowna

Despite the scorching temperatures, Kelowna hasn’t opened any cooling centres or additional water stations.

As summer heats up in the Okanagan, communities are taking steps to ensure residents have the opportunity to cool down.

Cooling centres have opened in Penticton, Osoyoos, and the Shuswap region, and a pop-up spray park has opened in Vernon. The exception is Kelowna, which is instead encouraging people to follow Interior Health’s guidelines.

“With the forecast for the next few days, being a little higher than it typically is during the summer months, we’ve identified more of a proactive approach to provide an opportunity for the community to cool off,” said Anthony Haddad, general manager with City of Penticton’s Community Services.

Cooling centres in Penticton:

“Our council is really behind our emergency services operations in the city and providing those support services for the community where they need. It’s an opportunity that is relatively simple for us to provide our community,” Haddad said.

“The facilities are open from Tuesday until Saturday. That’s when we see the increased heat forecast during the week. Then we’ll be reviewing that towards the end of the week and any updates will provide for the community moving forward.”

Despite the scorching temperatures, Kelowna hasn’t opened any cooling centres or additional water stations and instead the city posted a tweet encouraging people to follow Interior Health’s guidelines.

The Kelowna Gospel Mission, an agency that works with vulnerable people, says extreme heat puts the homeless population at greater risk for things like heatstroke.