Heat wave: what system is planned to anticipate heat waves for this summer?

“Anticipate, inform, protect”: the government and its Minister for Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, present this Thursday, June 8, 15 measures to deal with the high risk of heat waves for this summer period 2023. These measures follow a year 2022, designated as the hottest since the beginning of the records initiated in 1960, with nearly 1,500 local heat records broken and 33 days of heat wave between the beginning of June and the end of August. These figures reveal the progression of global warming which is giving more and more cold sweats to specialists.

The goal is to “support all French people, in particular the most vulnerable” in a context of global warming, the “effects of which are already at work”, as the ministry specifies. The government believes that it is therefore necessary to “anticipate the risks” which weigh in particular “on drinking water supplies, on forests and on farms” and “to protect the elderly, children, workers and farmers”.

Among the other measures announced, the establishment by the prefectures of a “census of islands of freshness and public fountains in the municipalities” and “prevention messages”, messages around the right actions to adopt will be disseminated in the transport, in particular concerning “risks of forest fires” and “health risks”.

One of the flagship measures announced aims to ensure that “young people in SNU (universal national service) can be mobilized to carry out actions to raise awareness of the general public on the causes of global warming”. Curators and guardians will also be mobilized to “pay particular attention to people benefiting from a protective measure and who are isolated”.

Companies, on the other hand, are assigned three measures. A guide will be distributed “to improve the temperature in offices”, accompanied by an “intensification of labor inspection checks”, to “support companies in taking heat risk into account”. At the same time, the transfer of live animals will be prohibited “from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. during heat waves published on the Météo France website”.

Like the census of municipal water sites, sporting and cultural events will also be listed. During periods of acute heat, the organizers will be “summoned by the department prefects to adapt their organization and put in place the measures which will have been discussed upstream”. Cancellations or postponements could be decided by the senior official in charge, according to Franceinfo.

With the same objective of prevention, the government will send SMS in the context of “exceptional situations”. This public alert and information system will now include the risks associated with heat waves. Most of the measures put in place by the government can be the subject of an SMS: “An SMS with the right behaviors will be sent to the inhabitants of the territories concerned”, affirms the Minister for the Ecological Transition. The notification will work on all phones (Android, iPhone…).

To the good old memory of the Covid-19. Prevention messages will be broadcast in metropolitan transport. Information and reminders of “good actions to adopt” regarding the health risks directly linked to stifling heat will also be mentioned.