With summer just around the corner, the County of San Diego opened its annual Cool Zones program June 1, giving people free, cool, air-conditioned places to beat the heat when they need it.
The program is expected to run to Oct. 31, giving people more than 80 places around the county to seek shelter when the temperatures soar.
The Cool Zones program was created nearly 25 years ago. It was designed to give free, safe access to air-conditioned shelter during extreme heat to the people who need it most—older adults, people with disabilities and people with health concerns.
Cool Zone sites include the County’s 33 branch public libraries, teen and senior centers in County parks and other city, public, private and volunteer organizations and place s around the county.
A current list of all the Cool Zone s i t e s , their hours, addresses and phone numbers is posted on the County’s Cool Zones website. The site also includes an interactive link that lets people search for Cool Zone sites by location, ZIP code, organization and what animals are allowed.
The Alpine library is at 1752 Alpine Blvd. and the Pine Valley library is at 28804 Old Highway 80
Extreme heat can be especially dangerous for the elderly and children. Everyone is recommended to shelter in cool places when the temperatures get too hot. Working or exercising outside on a hot day or staying inside a hot space for too long can cause heat-related illnesses. Those can range from cramps to exhaustion and heatstroke, a condition when the body can no longer control its temperature.
Signs of heatstroke or exhaustion include having an extremely high body temperature, 103 degrees or higher, dizziness, nausea, confusion and headache. Anyone suffering these symptoms should call 9-1-1 and be cooled off immediately.
To learn more, visit Coolzones. org. Reprinted courtesy San Diego Office of Communications.
