00:00A lot of us are thinking heat getting near some water as we go through the days to come,
00:04but not everyone is that lucky. And New York City, one of those spots that's gearing up for
00:08a stretch of extreme heat through part of a large heat wave is expected across the eastern U.S. next
00:14week. Here to talk about safety and preparedness is Zachary Iskell, Commissioner of New York City
00:20Emergency Management. Thank you again. It's good to see you again, sir. How is the city preparing
00:26for this upcoming stretch of dangerous heat? Yeah, you too. And thank you both so much for
00:33having me on. And thanks for the work you do helping people stay informed. So as you guys are
00:37aware, heat is one of the most dangerous weather events we face here in New York City. We have
00:43over 250 New Yorkers a year who lose their lives to high heat. And so this is something that we take
00:48very, very seriously. Days in advance, we've been working very, very closely with our partners
00:54at the National Weather Service, our partners, our utility partners. We really have a couple
01:00objectives, you know, protecting the city's most vulnerable, protecting critical infrastructure,
01:04and then doing a lot to make sure that we are public messaging. And then in addition to all that,
01:09we also have an election taking place right now with early voting and then regular voting on Tuesday
01:15that we want to, we're working very, very closely with the Board of Elections to make sure voters are
01:20safe, they're getting the information they need. And we're also making sure that all those facilities
01:24are ready for a safe, secure election, early voting and on the day of.
01:32Now, what actions then, of course, on the day of, you're talking about citywide responses for cooling
01:38centers, many other services. Can you give us some more specifics?
01:42Yeah, so, you know, we're going to activate our city's emergency heat plan starting Sunday morning.
01:47That's the first day we're really going to see heat indexes over 100 degrees. A lot of work we do with
01:52Department of Social Services. We go into something called a Code Red to make sure that we're getting
01:56out there to get our homeless New Yorkers off the street, taking care of the most vulnerable.
02:01Con Ed is going to have some additional crews out to make sure they can immediately respond to any
02:06outages around the city. And then we've been doing a lot of work with the Board of Elections. We delivered
02:10over a thousand cases of water this morning. We're working with the state to arrange some cooling
02:15buses that we can deploy if needed. We have the Con Ed teams on standby should there be outages.
02:22So a lot of work that we're doing around the election as well. And also just encouraging a lot
02:29of New Yorkers to think about a heat plan as they are voting, right? If you can vote early, please do so.
02:36Try and vote around peak heat hours early in the morning, later in the day, especially if you fall
02:41into one of the more vulnerable categories. Now, along with the heat, air quality has been a concern
02:46through parts of the summer. And whenever we get heat, it can often get exaggerated, the air quality
02:52and we can lessen, I should say. What should people do with health issues that they need to keep in mind
02:57in regards to air quality? Yeah, it's a great question. Look, we're contending now with all sorts
03:04of emergencies that in the past have been novel and now we're seeing more frequently. Air quality
03:09is one of them. So number one, knowing is always half the battle. Make sure you have the information
03:14that you need. Sign up for Notify NYC here in New York City. Make sure you're also monitoring sites
03:19like airnow.gov that monitor the air quality so that you're aware. And then if we are going into some
03:25of those levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups, unhealthy for most New Yorkers, make sure
03:32you're limiting time outdoors. If you're feeling any of the effects, you know, wheezyness, dizziness,
03:37get indoors. And of course, never be afraid to call 9-1-9-1-1 if you find yourself in need of it.
03:45Zachary Isco, Commissioner of New York City Emergency Management. Zach, thanks for joining us
03:49here and stay cool. And I know you and your city will come through this just fine.
03:55Thank you so much. It's great to be with you guys.
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