Amid a record-breaking heat wave that's pushing into early fall, the city of Phoenix is delaying the closure of some summer heat relief sites.
The 24-hour heat respite center at Burton Barr Library has had thousands of visitors since launching in May. It had been scheduled to close at the end of September, but now the city says doors will stay open through Oct. 7.
"The decision was pretty straightforward. That's just the right thing to do," said Commander Brian Lee, director of Phoenix’s Office of Emergency Management. “We’re still in the middle of an extreme heat condition, and it’s something to be taken very seriously.”
An excessive heat warning remains in effect in the Phoenix area through Friday evening, with temperatures of 110 degrees or hotter expected.
“With these record-breaking high temperatures that we continue to experience, all through last weekend and looking at the seven-day forecast, we just felt that it would be in everybody’s best interest to continue to keep some of the resources in place that we had,” Lee said.
The Burton Barr site is the first 24-hour heat relief site the city has ever run. It opened this year in response to a record number of heat-related deaths in the Phoenix area in 2023.
The city this year also extended hours to 10 p.m. for heat relief at three other library branches and offered overnight heat respite at a downtown Phoenix senior center. Those four sites will return to their normal operating hours as scheduled this week, Lee said. But other city-run sites offering cold water or daytime heat relief will continue to operate during regular business hours through Oct. 7.
Heat relief resources throughout Maricopa County can be found through the Maricopa Association of Governments or by calling 2-1-1.
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