Heat dome killed 55 in Vancouver Island region: B.C. coroner review

An investigation by British Columbia's chief coroner has found that 55 people in the Vancouver Island region died during last summer's heat dome.

The deaths represent approximately nine per cent of the 619 heat-related deaths in B.C. during the extreme temperatures in June and July 2021.

The highest rate of deaths was recorded in the Fraser Valley, where 312 deaths made up half of the province's total, followed by the Vancouver Coastal Health region with 145 deaths, Interior Health with 84 deaths and Northern Health with 23 deaths.

On Vancouver Island, the largest share of deaths was recorded in the Greater Victoria region, where 24 people died amid the extreme temperatures. The region had the sixth-highest number of heat-related fatalities in B.C. during the heat dome.

According to the coroner's review released Tuesday, 98 per cent of the heat-related deaths in B.C. occurred indoors and 67 per cent of those killed were 70 or older.

More than half of those who died – 56 per cent – lived alone, and most of those who died lacked cooling systems like air conditioning or fans and lived in "socially or materially deprived neighbourhoods."

The report provides a road map for the province and calls for a co-ordinated heat-alert system in B.C. to prevent deaths in future heat emergencies, said Dr. Jatinder Baidwan at a news conference.

"It's about eliminating risk," he said. "You are never going to live in a society where you eliminate all risk. But we have to do our utmost to ensure that we absolutely, actively eliminate as much risk as we can understand."

Record temperatures surpassed 40 C for days in last summer's so-called heat dome across the province.

"Are we where we need to be? No," said Baidwan. "Can we get better? Absolutely. I can honestly say we are in better shape today than we were at the time of the heat dome last year."

The BC Coroners Service report comes a day after the provincial government announced a two-stage heat response system to help people and communities stay safe as temperatures rise and the threat of heat-related emergencies increases.

The recommendations from the report include ensuring vulnerable people are identified and supported during heat emergencies, implementing longer-term prevention and mitigation strategies and introducing the heat alert and response system.

“Coroner investigations found that those who died were predominantly older adults with chronic health conditions and relatively compromised overall health,” says the report. “These conditions may have impacted their ability to seek assistance or cooler environments. The majority of those who died lacked access to cooling or ventilation, and were often living in areas of higher material and social deprivation.”

Baidwan said the panel recommended the immediate and long-term focuses of government, communities and health agencies should involve helping people stay cool in their homes or getting them to cooling facilities to escape the dangers of the heat.

“If we can't get something to somebody, get them to a cooling centre,” he said. “Essentially, if you think about it, people dying from heat, it's a failure of the way we live.”

Baidwan said communities should consider heat-protection initiatives that range from building homes that stay cool in hot weather, to planting more trees to provide shade and leaving fewer open concrete areas to attract heat.

The Opposition Liberals called on the New Democrat government to start working on the report's recommendations.

“Today's recommendations from the coroner must be implemented immediately to prevent such a heat dome tragedy from occurring again,” Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon said in a statement.

“The coroner's report shows government failed to adequately notify and inform British Columbians of the risks of the extreme heat which killed over 600 people in our province.”

With files from The Canadian Press