Science & Nature
30 Years After Mass Heat Wave Deaths, Activists Question Whether Chicago Is Any Better Prepared
Thirty years ago, on July 12, a heat wave settled over northeast Illinois.
A day later, the heat index peaked at 124 degrees — and soon area hospitals were filled to overflowing with people suffering from heat-related illnesses.
By the time the heat relented, 739 people had died and the city was using refrigerated trucks as makeshift morgues.
The victims were disproportionately the elderly and people of color.
Dr. Howard Ehrman was working at Cook County Hospital that summer. He said hospital staff quickly realized a disaster was unfolding.
“There were so many people that were coming in with heat-related illness and right away we could see that this was definitely above average compared to most summer days,” Ehrman said. “People’s core temperatures were extremely high. Some of them were above 105, 108, 109. We could also see that the paramedics, the EMTs from the Fire Department and in some cases private ambulances, were bringing people in that actually either died on the way or they were too far gone.”
Ehrman said the impact of the heat wave was exacerbated by heat islands — areas of the city where the built environment traps heat — “that are primarily concentrated in Black and Brown neighborhoods on the South, Southwest and West sides.”
Lonette Sims is chair of the People’s Response Network, which advocates for racial and social justice and expanding the city’s health network and other social services.
Sims said she does not think the city is any better prepared to cope with a heat or other health-related disaster now than it was in 1995. Sims noted that as the city’s Black population has declined in recent years because of reverse migration back to the South, that has left Black seniors in Chicago even more vulnerable — and social isolation was a key factor in many deaths in 1995.
“We have less Black population (now) than we did in 1995,” Sims said. “We have seniors that are dealing with more social isolation — so we have less community networks than we did.”
Sims also noted that the impact of redlining and the lack of investment in communities of color made them more susceptible to extreme heat.
There are also fewer trees in communities of color.
“One tree, if it’s allowed to mature, has the same impact as 20 air conditioners,” Sims said. “So redlining did not just impact a community’s ability to have generational wealth. It literally impacted the quality of life.”
Sims said a 2023 heat island mapping project found that there could be as much as a 22-degree difference between some Chicago community areas in the heat of the afternoon.
According to Ehrman, if people are showing signs of suffering from a heat-related illness the most important thing is to get them to into an air-conditioned space.
But while more people may have air conditioners than they did 30 years ago, the soaring cost of electricity may mean vulnerable city residents on low or fixed incomes may be reluctant to use them.
Ehrman said the biggest step forward since 1995 was the passage of the city’s 2022 Cooling Ordinance — passed after three Black women seniors died in an apartment complex in Rogers Park due to exposure to excessive heat. Tenants had complained of the excessive heat, but building management allegedly refused to turn on air conditioning.
Ehrman questions whether the Cooling Ordinance is actually being implemented.
“The Cooling Ordinance is the only positive step in 30 years,” Ehrman said.
The ordinance calls for residential building for seniors to have air-conditioned community centers available to residents when the heat index exceeds 80 degrees.
“The problem is that no one knows if that ordinance is really in effect,” Ehrman said. “No one can tell us.”
