Dangerous heat is still relatively unusual in Maine, but several heat waves this summer have given us an taste of what’s likely to become routine as the state's climate warms.
Maine Public Radio and the Portland Press Herald have been reporting on the ways extreme heat will change how we live, and what’s being done to protect vulnerable populations.
Morning Edition host Irwin Gratz talked about the project with Penny Overton, climate and environment reporter at the Press Herald, and Peter McGuire, Maine Public’s climate reporter.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Gratz: Penny, Maine is typically thought of as a cold weather state. Why did you decide to look into extreme heat events here?
Overton: Well, I used to work in Arizona, where 105-degree summer days are typical. When I moved here, I didn’t think Maine had an extreme heat problem, at least not yet. It was Maine’s former CDC director, Dora Mills, who set me straight about that, listing a dozen groups of people at risk from what I would call mild heat. Sure enough, studies show people in cold-weather states suffer from heat illnesses at lower temperatures than people in hot-weather states. Put that all together: Maine heat can be dangerous long before the thermometer hits 105 degrees, especially for some.
Did the numbers back that up?
Overton: Yes, state data shows heat-related ER visits and hospitalizations spike during a heat wave. And that’s just for the injuries and illnesses that a hospital ties directly to the heat — things like heat exhaustion and heat stroke. There are going to be a lot of people who arrive at the hospital after a fall, a stroke or a heart attack that will not be labeled as a heat case even though it probably wouldn’t have happened if there had been no heat wave. So, bottom line? We don’t really know the true health impact of our heat waves.
Were you surprised to learn which Maine groups were vulnerable to heat?
Overton: Some of the most vulnerable are exactly who you’d expect them to be: older Mainers, pregnant people and babies, people with pre-existing medical conditions, people who work outdoors or in hot places. But I didn’t know that people on some pretty common medications also face an elevated risk. Some ADHD medications, antihistamines, high blood pressure medications and antidepressants can cause side effects that make it harder for a body to regulate heat. The risk isn’t from the illness or condition, but the medication used to treat it. Unfortunately, many people who take them don’t realize it.
Peter, some of your reporting focused on how workers are handling dangerous heat. How are increased heat days making worksites more hazardous?
McGuire: Well, there are some preliminary data from the ER data Penny was mentioning that indicate a major risk factor for getting heat illness is working, you know, physical labor.
And people I talked to said that hot days were the worst conditions to work in. I met several people who said they had heat illness multiple times on the job. And that the severity of the issue wasn’t well recognized in Maine. You know, about 1,000 U.S. workers have died from heat illness on the job in the last 30 years, but there’s still no federal or state standards to make employers provide water, shade or extra breaks on a hot day. And experts say that’s really disappointing, because deaths and injuries from heat illness are preventable.
Isn’t there a federal rule being worked on to address heat?
McGuire: Yeah, there is. It’s from the Biden-era Occupational Safety and Health Administration and basically it would require water, rest and shade for workers when the heat index hits 80 degrees. And added precautions when it goes over 90.
A lot of advocacy groups thought the Trump administration would dump that proposal, but so far rulemaking is still going ahead.
So the science shows it’s only going to get hotter. Penny, what’s Maine doing to help those already at risk and prepare for the higher temperatures to come?
Overton: Maine communities like Dover-Foxcroft and Fairfield are starting to open up cooling centers during heat waves. Maine recently passed a law that bars Maine utilities from cutting off power in a heat wave, and another that requires local Boards of Education to adopt temperature ranges in schools. But its big picture strategy seems to be heat pumps. Heat pumps may have begun as a way to reduce emissions and save Mainers money by weaning them off home heating oil, but it also happens to be a way to cool Maine buildings. That’s especially important for a state with low AC rates.
McGuire: Yeah, and I’d add that across the state county emergency managers are developing plans to respond to dangerous heat and cold. Heat waves are the deadliest form of extreme weather and I think it's maybe a good sign that people in Maine are starting to think about and plan for these events as disasters on par with an ice storm or hurricane.
And I think it is working — back in June when temperatures spiked over 100 degrees, Maine had the most cooling centers open it ever has. So I think it is encouraging that, even as a cold weather state, we’re starting to adapt and recognize how dangerous a heat wave can be.
