That was 2021: Heat dome killed 8 in Richmond

Eight people died in Richmond this past summer due to the heat dome that hit B.C. in late June and early July, according to the BC Coroners Service.

Across the province, 595 deaths were attributed to the extreme heat event between June 25 and July 1.

While Richmond had initially set up tents and misting stations to help residents beat the heat, it didn’t set up any extra cooling centres. The city said it was restricted by COVID-19 physical distancing orders.

Despite a bulletin put out by Vancouver Coastal Health in late June warning the risk of heat exceeded that of COVID-19, the city claimed it was under provincial health orders. However, the province told the News at the time VCH did have “jurisdiction over guidelines.”

Other municipalities such as Vancouver acted on the VCH bulletin and set up cooling centres for their residents.

The city said at the time it offered libraries as cooling centres and that it added as much capacity as it could to community facilities.

During later heatwaves at the end of July and in August, the city did open extra cooling centres at the Cambie and South Arm community centres.

The Richmond fire department has since come up with a plan for the City of Richmond to tackle future heat waves, including distributing water and opening more places for people to cool down in.