Wake County to reopen cooling stations amid brutal heat

With triple-digit ‘feels like’ temperatures roaring back into the Triangle this week, Wake County is reopening its cooling stations.

The county says people who need to beat the heat can turn to libraries, regional centers, and health and human service centers during business hours. The shelters are expected to remain open through at least Monday, July 20.

“Extreme heat can become life-threatening, especially for vulnerable communities without access to air conditioning,” said Darshan Patel, Emergency Management operations manager in a statement.

The county opens the stations any time the ‘feels like’ temperature tops 100 degrees for three days or more in a row, or if a heat advisory or warning has been issued. This is at least the third time this summer the stations have opened. 

The move comes as one Franklin County family is pointing the finger at high heat, and a broken air conditioner, for their mother’s death. 

71-year-old Shirley Richardson died at her home outside Louisburg on July 7th. Her family says when they found her body, the temperature outside was 104*, and Richardson’s air conditioner wasn’t working. 

“She kept saying, you know, ‘it's hot. It's hot. It's hot,’” in the days leading up to her death, said her grandson, Markus. “She was very kind, very kind-hearted, very intelligent, very smart.” 

Richardson’s visitation was held Wednesday in Castalia. WRAL has reached out to the medical examiner’s office to confirm the cause of her death. 

Numbers from Wake EMS show it’s already been a long summer for first responders. The agency started taking calls for heat-related emergencies all the way back in March this year, and crews were already taking at least one heat related call a day, every day, between May 27 through June 9th, the most recent day for which data was available. 

The already-scorching temperatures are also causing an uptick in visits to area splash pads and pools. 

“What else can you do, besides being in water?” said one Holly Springs mom, Kim Bussells, who’d brought her family to Raleigh’s Gipson Play Plaza to cool off.