Preparing for El Niño: What you need to know

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[upbeat music] Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindmon. On this episode of KPBS Midday Edition, President Trump says to let Iran take out San Diego and Los Angeles during a Nebraska campaign speech. We'll hear reaction. This is KPBS Midday Edition, connecting our communities through conversation. [upbeat music] So as San Diego continues through an October heat wave, the region is also preparing for what's expected to be a historic El Niño season. We wanted to talk more about storm preparedness. I'm joined now by Robert Runzinde. He is an assistant fire chief with San Diego Fire Rescue. Robert, welcome.

Thank you for having me.

Glad to have you here. Also, from the county of San Diego, Ashley Gain is here. She is community engagement program manager with the county. Ashley, welcome to you.

Hi, Jade. Thank you.

So, uh, we have you here to talk about storm preparedness, but we happen to be talking, uh, during an extreme heat warning. Uh, this summer has thrown multiple heat waves our way, and, um, I'm curious to know, what have you learned this summer and, uh, now fall, when it comes to extreme heat and, and preparedness?

Yeah, absolutely. Um, with the El Niño, uh, something that we've learned is, is that not only is it potentially a wet season, but it's also hot. It comes with humidity, elevated temperatures, uh, and changes in the, in the weathers that are not typical for, for the, the region. And so we've been preparing, uh, since the end of June of this year to not only prepare for the rainy season that we're anticipating, but also to prepare for these heat waves and heat warnings.

Hmm. Ashley, what do we know about the health impacts?

I mean, it's definitely not safe to be out in the heat. So if there's any kinds of, uh, individuals with access or functional needs, if there's older adults, children, things like that, definitely take advantage of the cool zones across the county, and make sure that you're staying in the air conditioning because it can cause, you know, all different types of impacts including heatstroke, and we wanna make sure people are staying safe.

Mm. I know we've seen it. There's an uptick in 911 calls. Um, the county says it's received 378 heat-related calls, uh, so far. Last year it was just 247 for the entire year. Um, with that volume of calls coming in, are there things that you all are having to do differently?

I know that the city of San Diego extended their cool zone hours, uh, a couple times now. There's been additional public messaging that's gone out, uh, through Alert San Diego, just to make sure that people are aware of what their resources are. And I know that our, our public health team has been doing a lot of extreme heat event considerations, so they've been working with, you know, the local hospitals, working with the local, uh, oh my gosh, the-

Residents

... residential facilities.

Yeah.

Everyone [laughs] to make sure that everyone-

[laughs]

... has the resources needed.

It's a big