Yasmina Chavez
A man rests at the Dula Community Center on Monday, July 12, 2021. The community center has been converted into a cooling center for people trying to escape the record heat.
Monday, July 12, 2021 | 12:54 p.m.
When homeless resident Doug Cullins arrived at the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center in downtown Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon to escape the scorching summer heat, he noticed paramedics standing at the entrance attending to someone who was sick from the elements.
A few hours later and in temperatures well above 110 degrees Celsius, Mullins saw another paramedic transport another homeless man in an ambulance. The 56-year-old admitted to wondering, “Could I be next?”
“We’re falling like flies because of this heat,” he said.
Cullins and other homeless people seeking a pardon in the yard were taken to the Dula indoor community center on Sunday afternoon, where nearly 90 of them spent the night in the gym with air conditioning, cold water to drink and mats to sleep on.
With an excessive heat warning in effect through 8 p.m. Monday, Las Vegas city officials made a decision to allow homeless customers to move on from the courtyard – the shady outdoor base for many in the Corridor of Hope. The clerks, who play a vital role in helping residents secure health services and social assistance, also moved to Dula.
“Most of the guests were grateful for the opportunity to receive the pardon, and we were happy to offer it,” said Jocelyn Bluitt-Fisher, an administrator for the city’s community services.
Bluitt-Fisher said the cooling mechanisms in the courtyard were able to lower temperatures by about 20 degrees, which was just not enough during the heat wave that has hampered many communities across the west and led to forest fires in California and Oregon.
As temperatures hit 116 degrees in Las Vegas on Saturday, NV Energy sent an emergency message to customers asking them to save energy by turning off lights and unplugging appliances between 6:00 and 9:00 p.m. The heat also resulted in flight delays at McCarran International Airport.
The heat on the homeless yard was so bad that customers kept complaining that the water bottles distributed by the officers were hot. It’s impossible to cool off when warm liquids are placed in a warm body, said 66-year-old resident Keenan Brown Sr.
Although Brown wore a cool compress around his neck and wore light clothing, he had a headache and felt exhausted, symptoms of heat stroke.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” says Brown, who has lived in Las Vegas for almost three years, about the unbearable conditions. “You try everything to stay cool, but you just can’t get used to the heat.”
Cullins said there was no trick to staying cool because “this heat is a different kind of animal. It is impossible to survive without help. “
Bluitt-Fisher said officials would still decide when to close the community center as a cooling station, and said it would be operational at least until the end of Monday. Temperatures were predicted to stay in the triple digits overnight until 11 p.m. before rising 90 degrees to a night low of 89 degrees at 6 a.m. on Tuesday. The maximum temperature forecast for Tuesday is 108 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
“This is an unprecedented thing in Las Vegas,” said Bluitt-Fisher. “We had so many record temperatures, mainly because it didn’t cool down at night (because of) temperatures in the three-digit range. We decided that it was too hot to be able to sleep outside. “
Dula had just over 100 customers by early Monday afternoon. The Salvation Army arrived to provide relief, including food.
Dula can accommodate up to 300 customers, Bluitt-Fisher said. City marshals and emergency teams are directing the homeless to the center, although 150 of the homeless stayed in the courtyard Sunday night, she said.
“The heat was a problem and we decided to do this as a solution,” she said.
