With a baby and toddler in tow, nanny Laken Turcotte knew exactly where to go on July 16 when temperatures in southern Maine soared into the mid 90s — inside, to air conditioned comfort at the Scarborough Public Library.
"It's harder to do stuff with the baby out in the heat, so this is a good spot to come when you want to not be hot," Turcotte says.
The library is one of the cooling centers that's listed throughout the summer on the Maine Emergency Management Agency's website. Assistant Director Catherine Morrison says it's hard to know how many people are here to cool off or just to read, but there's not a big crowd.
"Sometimes on the hotter days we have noticed that people are lingering, you know, sitting and reading for longer," Morrison says. "Today not so much, but maybe later in the day as it gets hotter."
Even though Maine is known as a cold weather state, in recent years, hundreds of people have shown up in emergency rooms for heat-related illness. To offer relief, cooling centers are opening at libraries, fire stations, and community centers.
It's just one example of how the state is responding to what's expected to become the norm, as human-caused climate change makes summer sizzle for plants, animals and people.
Farther inland, the Bridgton Community Center also serves as a cooling center on hot days.
"A lot of times people will come in here, they'll plug in, they'll do what they need to do," says Executive Director Darcey Pomerleau.
She gives a tour of different rooms where people can kick back, watch TV, use a computer and even grab something to eat or drink. On this afternoon, though, no one is here specifically to cool off.
"So it varies," Pomerleau says. "Mainers are pretty hard core. They're prepared for a lot of different things."
Bill Guindon, mass care coordinator for the Maine Emergency Management Agency, says a record 110 cooling centers opened during an early heat wave this summer. That's nearly double the high last year. But as far as how many people use them?
"It's not uncommon to have facilities open and nobody going, you know, other than the normal business traffic," he says.
MEMA doesn't formally track use. Guindon says in some ways, it doesn't necessarily matter.
"It's not whether people show up, but knowing that a community has somewhere for people to go is really important," he says.
Because the need will likely increase as Maine gets hotter. The number of days above 90 degrees is expected to increase two- to four-fold by 2050. And it wasn't that long ago that people in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia experienced a devastating heat wave in which hundreds of people died.
"For me, at least, the heat event in the Pacific Northwest in 2021, what that brought home was this absolutely could happen here," says Rebecca Lincoln, environmental epidemiologist at the Maine Center for Disease Control.
"It is Portland, Maine and Portland, Oregon. The climates are really similar," she says. "The populations are really similar. This mix of sort of urban and rural is similar in ways, the challenges are going to be the same."
Lincoln says anywhere from 100 to 400 people go to emergency rooms in Maine for heat-related illnesses in a given year. But heat also exacerbates other conditions such as cardiovascular, kidney and respiratory diseases and diabetes. She says Mainers need to be aware of the risks and protect themselves.
Nikki Williams is program director of the free 211 helpline.
"We have a relationship with Maine Emergency Management Agency where we can be activated to help the public find needed information during times of disaster or extreme heat or extreme weather events," she says.
Williams says they do get calls about cooling centers.
"People aren't listing any specific barriers, other than asking, 'Well, is there something closer?'" she says.
Williams adds that 211 is also getting more calls asking for assistance to pay utility bills during warmer months. And if people struggle to afford to turn on fans or air conditioning, that could drive up demand for cooling centers to get relief from the heat — and high electric bills.
Maine Public reporter Carol Bousquet contributed to this story.
This story was reported as part of a collaboration between the Portland Press Herald and Maine Public.
