August 12, 2016Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good afternoon, everyone. We wanted to update all New Yorkers on the heat situation that this city is facing. We have had some tough days this summer. This is certainly going to rank among the worst of them so I want everyone to be on alert. Expect very, very hot temperatures and conditions today, tomorrow, Sunday.So, it’s time for people to really stop, and think about what you’re doing the next few days, and take precautions. This is a very, very serious situation. We have weather is that is, again, not only hot but potentially dangerous for some New Yorkers. But there are things people can do to avoid the danger. There are common sense steps that will keep everyone safe. So, I want to go over those now, and we’ll talk about the forecast, we’ll talk about the steps the City is taking, and the opportunities that people have to get to a cooler place if they don’t have an option where they live.I want to thank all my colleagues who are here. You’re going to hear from several of them. I also want to give a special thank you to the General Manager of the New York City Housing Authority, Michael Kelly, who is here with us who is looking out for the health and welfare of over 400,000 New Yorkers who live in NYCHA buildings. So, thank you, Michael, for all you are doing.Today, the temperature will climb to around 95 degrees but with the heat index values those will go up to between 105 and 110. I want to emphasis – heat index values go up to between 105 degrees and 110 degrees in the course of this afternoon. So, this is a very rare situation even in the context of what’s been a hot summer. I want people to be prepared for that.Tomorrow, we can expect the temperature itself to go up to 92 but the heat index values will go up between 100 and 105 degrees. So, also, very rare – not quite as bad as today but very rare conditions. And then Sunday, also, with the heat index values we expect it to go up to about 105 degrees.So, I want people on alert all through Sunday. The official National Weather Service advisory has gone out, and it is what is called an Excessive Heat Warning. So, we have from the National Weather Service an Excessive Heat Warning through Sunday evening. That’s going to go all the way until 10:00 pm on Sunday. And I want you to take note of that – all the way to 10:00 pm.So, the notion that, you know, as the day wears on it’s going to get cooler, that’s somewhat true but it’s not true enough. People should expect very tough conditions all the way into Sunday night.Now, there is a potential this afternoon for thunderstorms that might give us a little relief but thunderstorms come with their own problems and challenges. We want to be careful out there, particularly if you’re driving during that kind of weather. Everyone be on alert for that as well.We are going to be doing a lot to protect people. All of the agencies represented here make it their business in these situations to put special precautions in place, special protocols in place to protect New Yorkers. We’re going to talk about some of their work, and we’re also going to talk about what individual New Yorkers can do to protect themselves. But one of the things we’re doing is we’ve issued a Code Red alert for the Department of Homeless Services. Meaning if there are folks who are homeless out on the street who are in danger because of heat conditions, we’re going to get out there, and encounter them, and give them options to come in to a place that’s cooler.Now, I want to talk about some very common sense things people can do. First of all, if you don’t need to be outdoors in this heat, don’t do it. It’s a very – it’s a common sense thing. Change your plans if you can. Limit your time outside. Limit your exposure. If you can stay inside, that’s going to be a lot better obviously.Now, for those who need to get outside, some, especially young people – want a cool option, our pools are a great option, our City pools. The outdoor pool hours have been extended until 8:00 pm at our largest pools and out intermediate pools. So, all over the city, we’ll have pools open until 8:00 pm.We know that some New Yorkers think that a fire hydrant is a great place to turn if they want to get cool – you’ll hear from Commissioner Nigro in a moment about the right way and the wrong way to do that. And he’ll talk about the consequences of doing it the wrong way. People need to understand, even if they’re hot, they don’t want to do something that gets in the way of the Fire Department’s ability to do their job.The second point – use air conditioning. Common sense point but two things – sometimes people are going through tough conditions and they don’t think to turn on the air conditioning, they don’t want to spend the money, whatever it is. This, again, is a heat emergency. Use air conditioning but set it to 78 degrees. Why? Because 78 degrees will keep you cool enough. In terms of health, you’ll be fine. But it will also help us protect against power outages and, worse, a blackout. And we have to be aware. We’ve got the biggest population this city has ever had in its history – huge demands on our power grid. The last thing any of us wants to go through is a blackout. If you set your air conditioner to 78 degrees, you’ll be fine and you’ll help protect yourself and everybody else from the danger of a power outage.Now, anyone who does not have air conditioning and needs a cool place – we have over 500 cooling centers all over the city. They’re free. They’re available. You can walk in – it’s recreation centers, senior centers, all sorts of City facilities. You can go there, you can get cool, you can get a drink of water, you can spend time there, and cool off.So, anyone who does not feel that their home can be made cool enough, come to one of our cooling centers. All you have to do it call 3-1-1 to find the closest one. And they will be open today and tomorrow as well.And then – drink plenty of water. This is something we were told throughout our life by our parents. It’s true. Drink plenty of water. Dehydration can sneak up on you. You can think you’re okay and then suddenly you start to feel dizzy or disoriented. Drink water constantly. It’s one of the smartest things to do to protect against some of these heat dangers.Fourth, check on your neighbors. Keep an eye on them. This is a very common sense thing. This is something New Yorkers do very, very well. Look out for your neighbors, particularly senior citizens, particularly folks with disabilities.But I also want to say to all parents – keep a close eye on your kids. Again, kids are going to have the impulse to go outside. It’s summer. They want to be outside. Sometimes kids don’t realize how dehydrated they’re getting, and the dangers of being out in that sun and that heat. Parents need to remind their kids, and keep a close eye on them. Keep some limits on them.Also, to all parents – do not leave your children unattended in a parked car. It can get very hot very quickly in a parked car. If you think, “Oh, I’ll leave the kid in the car, I’ll go shop for a while, I’ll leave the window open a little bit” – that still can be a very dangerous situation. Realizing this is a heat emergency – do not leave your child unattended in a car or it could have tragic results.Fifth – for anyone who is feeling symptoms, and we’ll hear from the Department of Health in a moment, but for example if you’re having trouble breathing, if you have a rapid heartbeat, if you’re feeling dizzy, disoriented, if you’re feeling nauseated call 9-1-1. Get help right away. That could be the sign of something much worse starting to happen. Because again, these heat related problems come up on you very quickly, and they can have very damaging effects on the body. So, you have to take it seriously. We want to get help to you right away – particular focus on seniors or anyone with chronic medical conditions and problems. If they’re starting to feel any of those symptoms it could be the sign of something much worse.Be safe rather than sorry. Get help.And then, finally, so many New Yorkers feel so much love for their pets. Remember, your pets are going through the same exact things that we’re going through. It’s very, very tough on them too. Some of them have fur on their bodies. That doesn’t help. So, take care of your pets. Keep them out of the heat. Make sure they’re drinking water as well.Anyone who needs information on where those cooling centers are, on pool hours, or any other ways to stay safe can dial 3-1-1 at any time or go online nyc.gov.Quickly in Español –[Mayor de Blasio Speaks in Spanish]With that, I’d like to bring up a man that we depend on to make sure a whole city apparatus is protecting people. And he’s been particularly focused on making sure we keep our power supply up and running, and dealing with any outages when they do come. Our Commissioner for the Office of Emergency Management, Joe Esposito.Commissioner Joseph J. Esposito, Office of Emergency Management: The Mayor has – Mayor: You can handle it, Joe.Commissioner Esposito: I hope so. The Mayor has touched on many good points that need to be talked about. Just a few extra things to talk about.National Weather Service – we’re in constant contact with the National Weather Service. We do conference calls a few times a day to keep up on the latest information. What the Mayor gave you is in fact in the latest information.We deal with Con Ed and PSE&G on a regular basis. We know that the systems can get strained in this type of weather, so we’re in constant contact with them. The Con Ed has opened their Emergency Management Center, and we have personnel there to make sure that the information comes in in a very timely fashion.Behind us, you’ll see our Watch Command. We’ve increased our staffing during the heat emergency. They’re open 24/7. We have increased personnel there. We have NYCHA people there in case an issue develops in NYCHA.If a bigger incident were to develop, the seats that you’re sitting in – this is our Emergency Operations Center and every seat here would be filled either by a City, State, or one of our private partners around the city and state. So every seat here would be filled and it would be open 24 hours a day until the emergency was alleviated. So I encourage you to take a look around and become familiar with it.It’s important to stay informed with the best information during a condition like this. And we feel the best way to do that is through the Notify NYC program. It’s a program that we run here. And it will go to any of your mobile devices. It will even go to your hard line in your house. And you sign up for it by either going to 3-1-1 or nyc.gov. It will give you up-to-date information on this particular event, but also about any other event that happens in and around your neighborhood. So I really do encourage everyone to sign up for that important program.The last time we had a heat – an Excessive Heat Warning was July of 2013. It was a seven-day event where the indicators hit 105 degrees. So this is kind of odd. This is out of the ordinary. Like I said, last time we had one was 2013. We’ve had two other heat emergencies this year, but not to this level. So we really want to stress how important it is to pay attention to what – the warnings that we’re giving you.In addition to the weather, we also have a high rip current risk in Brooklyn and Queens, so we encourage you to use the beaches. But again, only swim where there’s a lifeguard present. Maybe don’t go in as far as you normally would; and please keep an eye on the kids and make sure they don’t go out to far. That rip current can take you out and again, you have to operate safely. We really do encourage you though to go out there.Our Heat Emergency Plan has been in place since Wednesday. It will go right through Monday when we do expect some relief from the weather. But again, as the Mayor said, this is going to go right through Sunday. We’re not going to get a lot of relief at night. It’s only going to go into the 70s, maybe 80 degrees. So you’re not going to get that relief at night when you think it would cool off.We’ve been dealing with our Advance Warning System. That’s a system that sends messages to the health care providers that they can give their folks information about what’s going on. When I say their folks – their customers, they have elderly folks they’re in contact with that they have health care aides go and visit them, elderly folks, people with medical conditions. So we have the Advance Warning System in place to provide the information to the most vulnerable of the population.We also have an Excavation Safety Alert in place until Monday. What that does is it makes people pay extra attention if they’re going to be digging up the streets. The last thing we want to do is hit a power line when we’re in a strained situation. So we have a safety alert in place that makes them take extra precautions during this type of condition.So again, as the Mayor said – common sense is the key. If you’re – this isn’t the best time to go jogging or going out for a run at 12 o’clock in the afternoon. You’re going to run, you’re going to exercise – if you really have to – I encourage you not to. It’s a good time to maybe take the next couple days off from your regimen. But if you insist on going out – going out early in the morning or after it cools down out night. Stay indoors as much as possible.If you have to work outside, and we know that there’s people who have to work outside. There’s emergencies out there – they’re going to be working. Try and put in a buddy system where if you’re working and you see your partner starting to sweat profusely, having indications that he or she is having some distress – get them inside, cool them off, call 9-1-1 if you need to, and get them medical attention.Use the air conditioners. Check on your neighbors. As the Mayor said – your neighbors, your neighbors that maybe have a condition or the elderly. Kids and pets – again, as you said. The kids don’t understand – they’re going to go out; they’re going to run around. If they’re going to run around, use the parks, go to the pools. A lot of the parks have got sprinklers. If you look right outside our facility here – those sprinklers are running constantly and the kids are having a ball with them. So get the kids – keep them wet, keep the dogs wet with plenty of water.Common sense is the order of the day. And we’ll get through this.So, thank you very much.Mayor: Thank you, Joe. Next I want to bring up our Deputy Commissioner for Emergency Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health Marisa Raphael.Deputy Commissioner Marisa Raphael, Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.Hot and humid weather like what we’re experiencing this week can cause heat, illness, and even death. As the Mayor said, temperatures are expected to remain in the 90s through the weekend and into Monday. The cumulative effects of the heat on the body can be deadly.In New York City, more than 80 percent of heat stroke deaths in recent years involve people who were exposed to heat in homes without air conditioning. The best way to prevent heat illness is to stay in a cool, air-conditioned place. If you have air conditioning and you have not used it up until now, today is the day to turn it on. Setting it to 78 degrees will keep you cool and keep your bills in check.Also, it’s important to take things slow, as previously noted – reducing, eliminating, or re-scheduling strenuous outdoor activities without air conditioning if you can. If you normally exercise outdoors – as recommended – either in the early morning or late evening hours.For those without air conditioning, a cool bath or shower can help. Avoid a sudden plunge into cold water which can be a shock to your system and make you feel dizzy or sick. It’s better to start with tepid or lukewarm water to safely cool down.New Yorkers should also be aware of the signs of heat-related illness. Heat stroke occurs when the body’s temperature rises quickly and can rapidly lead to death. Call 9-1-1 if you or someone you know displays the following signs: hot, dry skin or cold, clammy skin; confusion or disorientation; nausea and vomiting; trouble breathing; rapid heartbeat; weakness or dizziness.I’d like to close by stressing these very important points. The safest place for infants, seniors, and people with chronic and mental health conditions is a place with air conditioning. Avoid strenuous outdoor activities during the hottest parts of the day. Drink plenty of water and avoid drinks containing alcohol and caffeine. Take lukewarm, not cold, showers or baths to stay cool. The Mayor has said it already, but it bears repeating because it’s so important – check on your neighbors, family, friends. People who are sick, elderly, or disabled often need greater assistance in a heat emergency. Make sure they’re staying cool, can get to a place with air conditioning, and are drinking water.Thank you.Mayor: Thank you very much. And now our Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro.Commissioner Daniel Nigro, FDNY: As you can well imagine the extremes of weather – extreme temperatures whether very hot, very cold can make the incredibly difficult work that our members do in the Fire Department that much more difficult. We’ve already had a very difficult week. We have a member in the hospital who suffered heat stroke earlier this week. And you’ve heard heat stroke can be fatal. Thankfully, that member is recovering.You can only imagine on a day like today, putting on the heaviest coat you own, an extra pair of pants, boots, a warm hat, gloves, and place yourself in an environment somewhere between a sauna and a steam bath, and exert yourself to the highest level. That’s what our members would face in a fire situation in this kind of weather. We guard against it. We, of course, implore our members to hydrate. We rotate them frequently but it doesn’t remove the risk that they’re at.Our EMTs and paramedics are out there 24 hours a day serving the public. Calls yesterday were up approximately ten percent. In this kind of weather that’s to be expected and we’ve staffed up to meet those demands. So, I ask everyone to be safe, to stay cool, and be exceptionally fire safe when using your air conditions. Please don’t use extension cords or power strips.As far as staying cool with fire hydrants – there about ten reasons why one should not use a fire hydrant without a spray cap. It’s very dangerous, reduces water pressure, can flood your neighbor’s home, and many other things. We have spray caps available. We installed 200 of them yesterday for folks to use, for children if they have to go out of the house, and leave the air conditioning, and want to cool off at a hydrant. We will supply a spray cap for that hydrant. So, please, if you see anyone operating a hydrant, call it in, and we will come, and shut it down.So, be safe, be cool, and think about the work our members have to do – all City workers – on a day like today who are outside. Thank you.Mayor: I want to emphasize a couple of quick facts. So, on the point that Dan just made – if you see a hydrant open without the official spray cap from the FDNY, call 3-1-1, and report that. Again, Dan said there are a number of problems when a hydrant is opened up in the wrong way. The most profound one is – if God forbid there’s a fire in a nearby building, there will not be the water pressure that our fire fighters need to fight the fire. And you can lose lives that way. So, if there’s an unauthorized opening of a hydrant just pick up the phone, call 3-1-1, the Fire Department will come over and fix that. Anyone who wants a spray cap can get them at a fire house.Second point – my remarks left out something I want to clarify. Again, we’re saying this emergency goes through Sunday night, so those cooling centers will be open Sunday as well. They’re open today, they’re open Saturday, they’re open Sunday. My apologies for that omission.Finally, what Joe Esposito said – it’s been three years since we’ve had this kind of heat emergency. So, we definitely had some hot weather earlier in the summer but this one is different. This one is tougher, this one is worse. So I want people to really take to heart – take precautions.This is not business as usual. We talked about this back during a different kind of weather. We talked about this back when the blizzard was coming on. It turned out to be the worst blizzard in the history of New York City. We said don’t do business as usual. Change your plans. Change your habits. Focus on safety.Same thing in a heat emergency. As Joe said, change your schedule for exercise if you go running. Change your schedule for going shopping. This maybe isn’t the weekend to go shopping all over New York City. Take it down a few notches. Focus on safety. Focus on health and wellbeing particularly, again, for seniors and for children.With that, we’re going to take questions on the topic of this heat emergency. Questions? Yes.Question: Do you have numbers on how many heat related calls you’ve had, how many heat strokes, how many deaths in the city in the last couple of days?Commissioner Esposito: We’ve not had any deaths. We’ve had 59 calls yesterday that would we’d consider heat-related, and so far today, they’re amounting today but we have sufficient resources to meet them. And there have been no deaths – heat-related deaths yet.Mayor: And thank God there’ve been no deaths. But this is – everything we’re talking about here is how we’re going to prevent that. Again, you guys have been great about getting all the word out, very important that all those precautions get out to people and all the options for how they can stay cool.Question: [Inaudible] construction ban over the next few days given that, you know, there might be situations where they’re going to hit some sort of electrical supply or that they’re causing any other related problems – you know, traffic problems or fire hydrant problems?Mayor: So, that has not been brought to me. I’ll be very straightforward with you. That hasn’t been on the table. Obviously, the warning’s been giving about excavation. But I think, Joe, you can talk about the process of what we think about when it comes to construction.Commissioner Esposito: Yes, we’re going into the weekend, so there’s a lot less construction on Saturdays and Sunday but that excavation safety alert is very important. It puts extra pressure on the people who are digging to make sure they stay away from the lines, and we think that’s sufficient at this time.Question: This is super new, so I don’t know if you guys have this, but I’m being told there’s some kind of power outage at Beach 19th Street in Queens. Joe, anything you can tell us about this? How big it is, and what caused it.Commissioner Esposito: Yes, there’s a one-building outage, as you said, on Beach 19th Street. It’s a senior building – couple-hundred apartments, 20-some-odd floors it has. It has some power. So, the apartments don’t have power but the common areas have power. They have a cooling center in there that has power. We’re moving MTA buses there to provide additional cooling centers. A generator is on-site that should be in place and providing power within the next few hours.Question: [Inaudible] hear something like that – there’s seniors there, how much of a concern is that?Mayor: It’s a very big concern but I want to give the Office of Emergency Management a lot of credit. That’s exactly the kind of things I would have demanded happen, and they’re doing. They’re very good at what they do. They immediately swung into action. In this case, thank God, that backup generator is providing cooling in those common areas so we know the seniors can get some place right now where they can stay cool while the bigger situation is being resolved. So, anything involving seniors worries me immediately. And what I can say is – and all the pieces fit together – the more that people help us to avoid a bigger problem, the more we can deal with any individual problems. You know if you keep – that’s why setting the temperatures at 78 degrees is a great example.If we don’t have a bigger problem to deal with like a number of power outages or God forbid a blackout, we can then – we have a lot of capacity to go troubleshoot where there are individual problems and back them up and get them help really, really quickly. But we’re going to need everyone to be on the ball. This is going to be a real team effort for New York City to get through these next few days.Question: [Inaudible] this weekend will be the anniversary of the 2003 blackout. Can anyone discuss what has –Mayor: The changes that have happened?Question: [Inaudible]Mayor: Yea. I’m going to drink something right now because all of this is making me worry. So, I’m going to drink. Joe, would talk about what we’ve done since that blackout.Commissioner Esposito: Well, we’ve got a lot better plans, I think. I think this Emergency Operations Center is a big part of how we would deal with something like that. If an outage of that magnitude would happen again, every chair here would be filled, and it would be filled until the emergency was over. But ConEd [inaudible] some tremendous work since then to make their systems for reliable, and be able to come back from an event a lot sooner. So, we’re confident that if something were to happen, we could recover from it a lot quicker. And again, this Emergency Operations Center is a big part of how we would manage that.Question: [Inaudible] the curtailment that this room is 78 degrees. It’s pretty hot in here. Is that what it’s like in an apartment as – it’s pretty clammy in here –Mayor: Well, we’ve got a lot of people here. We’ve got the lights on. I think in a lot of apartments it’s a little bit better than this. But again, let’s talk about health. In health terms – if I said it is 78 degrees out on a typical day in the spring, let’s say. And I said it’s 78 degree weather. You’d say that’s great. Right? If you’re at 78 degrees, you’re going to be safe. It’s not perfect maybe but it’s not uncomfortable in the bigger scheme of things.But imagine, God forbid, if everyone cranked their air conditioning simultaneously in a city of eight-and-a-half million people – by the way with three million people more who come in during the day on a weekday like today – then you have the risk of overwhelming the power grid. God forbid that starts us down that slippery slope where we have sections of the city without power. We can’t take that risk.So, my view is, you know, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Get those temperatures to 78 degrees. When I go into City Hall in one of these situations, I feel it. It’s not as nice as when it’s cooler but everyone is going about their work, everyone is fine, and it’s going to help us protect ourselves over the next few days.Question: What are you doing to keep yourself cool?Mayor: I’m going to give you my visual. Drink lots of fluids. I get lectured at home by Chirlane all the time. So, I have a voice in my head. But no, it really is amazing that we – all of us – don’t think to drink enough water. What’d the doctor say – maybe Marissa knows – it’s like four quarts a day. What is the rule? There’s – you know, we’re supposed to drink a lot more water than we do or other beverages than we do – non-alcoholic beverages may I add.So, this is just a kind of typical problem of modern life – sorry. This is a typical problem of modern life. We just don’t hydrate ourselves enough. But when you get into hot conditions, you know, you’re losing water constantly and you don’t know it. And then suddenly you’re starting to feel dizzy or something like that. So, this is the single smartest, I think, people can do and the one thing I try and focus on.Rich.Question: Have the utilities said that because you’re going into the weekend, it’ll make it a little bit easier to get through this without a power problem?Mayor: And, hopefully because it’s August, there’s somewhat fewer people here than normal. But it’s still a hell of a lot of people.Commissioner Esposito: Yes, the weekend helps us, I mean, there’s a lot less buildings being operated in the city, a lot less demand, a lot of people are away, you know, they’re getting their final vacations in. So, I think that the two days of this event are the weekend help us rather than hurt us. I’ll be happy to get through Friday as soon as we can.Question: [Inaudible] –Mayor: I’m sorry, just one quick point [inaudible]. That does not mean that after today, everyone cranks your air conditioning.[Laughter]Because again, I appreciate the question about what’s changed since the last big blackout and anyone who lived through that or as my wife likes to talk about, the blackout in the ‘70s – when she was on a subway train in the Bronx between stops when the blackout hit in the night, I believe it was. So, you know, you don’t want to go through that. People need to recognize how serious this is. So, these rules are in effect all the way to Sunday night. Keep at 78 all the way through Sunday night. Let’s play it safe.Question: [Inaudible] it gets hot in the subways and trains. What suggestions do you have for people, and what can be done about the heat down there?Mayor: Well, I’m going to do the common sense, and then maybe my colleagues want to add. I think hydration is the thing that everyone controls for themselves, right? So, you’re going to be travelling on the subway, or you’re going to be travelling even on the buses make sure you’re hydrated. Bring some water with you, etcetera.But also, don’t travel more than you need to travel. I want you to think about this the same way you thought about it in the blizzard. It’s not the same situation with a travel ban because that obviously had to do with impassable roads and things like that. But it’s the same mindset. We said during the blizzard – don’t travel if you don’t need to travel. I’m saying it again now. Don’t be out in this heat if you don’t need to be. So, curtail your schedule. Put off things you can put off. Keep it simple. And if you don’t need to be in the subways, don’t be in the subways. If you are in the subways, only be as much as you need to be and drink a lot of water.Question: [Inaudible]Mayor: – what the MTA standard is? I don’t know that. Do you know that?Commissioner Esposito: The platforms aren’t air conditioned. The trains are air conditioned. So, you’re going to hot on the platform but once you reach into the train, the air conditioning – most of the trains are air conditioned, and they’ll have it at the recommended temperature.Question: [Inaudible]Deputy Commissioner Raphael: We have no concerns about air quality at this time but certainly for people who have underlying chronic conditions they are considered a vulnerable population, and should be mindful of watching out for these symptoms that I listed before, and, certainly, drinking lots of water. If they have concerns that they have one of these symptoms they should be calling 9-1-1.Mayor: Okay, other questions? Yes.Question: Um –Mayor: On-topic only. On-topic –Question: Well –Mayor: Just on-topic is what we’re doing here. So, is there any other question on this?Thank you everyone.