The declaration helps the state move resources and funding to hard-hit communities.
(Left to right) Transition Projects team members Tara Slak, Cheyenne Campbell, and Bess Turner pull a cart full of water, electrolyte packs, and cooling rags to distribute in downtown Portland, Ore., on July 5, 2024. Transition Projects serves people experiencing homelessness — who are some of the most vulnerable to extreme weather — year-round.
Anna Lueck / OPB
(Left to right) Steven Dudas, Sherri Thompson and Multnomah County employee Julia Comnes cool off inside the Cook Plaza cooling shelter in Gresham, Ore., on July 5, 2024. Multnomah County opened three cooling shelters on Friday, with plans to open a fourth on Saturday.
Anna Lueck / OPB
Sherri Thompson cools off with her dog Kiwani at the Cook Plaza cooling shelter in Gresham, Ore., on July 5, 2024. Thompson, who currently lives in a vehicle, has used this shelter before during both extreme cold and heat.
Anna Lueck / OPB
Brookelyn Lamb, left, and Jimmy O’Neill find respite from the sun and heat underneath a tree during the start of a record statewide heat wave in Bend, Ore., on Friday July 5, 2024. Lamb and O’Neill are unhoused and say finding places to stay cool is important — and sometimes challenging. They favor this particular tree because it fills with ladybugs and the property manager doesn’t ask them to leave.
Kathryn Styer Martínez / OPB
(Left to right) Emmanuel Ceniceros, 22, Alfonzo Solorio, 40, and Gerardo Gary, 24, maintain landscaping outside a McDonald’s restaurant during a statewide heatwave in Bend, Ore., on July 5, 2024. Solorio owns Bigfoot Lawn Services, LLC, and says he usually finishes working by 3:00pm.
Kathryn Styer Martínez / OPB
Max Reimers, 34, looks at his phone during his shift break in Bend, Ore., on July 5, 2024. Reimers, a restaurant general manager at Taco Bell, says he usually hangs out in the shade outside during his breaks.
Kathryn Styer Martínez / OPB
Maggy Johnston, an outreach coordinator at The ARCHES Project in Salem, Ore., adds ice to a container of Gatorade on July 5, 2024. The refreshment went outside to help people experiencing homelessness stay hydrated during the excessive heat warning.
Natalie Pate / OPB
A family plays in the fountain at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem on July 5, 2024.
Natalie Pate / OPB
A sign outside the Union Gospel Mission in Salem, Ore., alerts drivers and passersby of the area's excessive heat warning. July 5 was expected to be the first triple-digit day in a string of equally hot days.
Natalie Pate / OPB
Dorene Rosenbaum, 87, looks at her dice roll at the Council on Aging in Bend, Ore., on July 5, 2024. Rosenbaum meets to play Farkle every Friday after lunch at the Council on Aging. It’s one of four designated cooling centers open in Bend on Friday during a statewide heat wave. However, the center is only open until 2:00pm, just as the day reaches its highest temperatures.
Kathryn Styer Martínez / OPB
Gerardo Gary, 24, rakes branches into a bucket outside a McDonald’s restaurant during a statewide heatwave in Bend, Ore., on July 5, 2024. Gov. Tina Kotek declared a state of emergency on Friday because of the excessive heat.
Kathryn Styer Martínez / OPB
Gerardo Gary, 24, left, carries a bucket of branches while Alfonzo Solorio, 40, trims a shrub outside a McDonald’s restaurant during a statewide heatwave in Bend, Ore., on July 5, 2024.
Kathryn Styer Martínez / OPB
A row of beds waits for visitors at the Cook Plaza cooling shelter in Gresham.
Anna Lueck / OPB
Transition Projects team member Cheyenne Campbell hands water to people in downtown Portland, Ore., on July 5, 2024.
Anna Lueck / OPB
Transition Projects team members hand out information about the upcoming heat wave and available cooling shelters, downtown Portland, Ore., on July 5, 2024.
Anna Lueck / OPB
Javonte J. (last name withheld for privacy), left, receives water from Transition Projects team member Bess Turner, right, while outreach supervisor Tara Slak, middle, passes out informational flyers near Union Station in Portland, Ore., on July 5, 2024.
Anna Lueck / OPB
Maggy Johnston, an outreach coordinator at The ARCHES Project in Salem, Ore., carries a container of Gatorade on July 5, 2024. The refreshment went outside to help people experiencing homelessness stay hydrated during the excessive heat warning.
Natalie Pate / OPB
Gov. Tina Kotek declared a state of emergency for all of Oregon on Friday, as the state prepares to take the brunt of a heat wave that could send temperatures soaring into the triple digits through Tuesday.
“Both the record-breaking temperatures and the duration of heat present a clear and present danger, particularly for children, elders, people with disabilities, and people who work outside,” Kotek said in a statement. “I am urging Oregonians to take every precaution and check on your family and neighbors.”
Emergency declarations are a bureaucratic tool that enable state agencies to more freely share funding and resources with local governments and other groups as they set up cooling shelters, hand out water, and take other steps to protect human health. That process is coordinated by the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, or OEM.
In this case, Kotek said that the Oregon Health Authority, Department of Human Services, state police and other agencies “will be directed to provide any assistance requested by OEM that is necessary to assist in the response to this emergency and to provide all necessary support to statewide response, recovery and mitigation efforts.”
The governor’s declaration comes as searing heat is predicted throughout the state in coming days. It’s more in anticipation of need than a sign counties are currently struggling. Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson issued an emergency heat declaration on Wednesday to prepare for the oncoming heat wave.
Temperatures as high as 110 degrees Fahrenheit are expected in Medford on Friday, with hotter temperatures likely on Saturday. Portland and other areas of the Willamette Valley might see temperatures topping 100 degrees into early next week. And in Ontario, on the border with Idaho, temperatures are expected to hit triple-digits for longer
Emergency declarations due to heat have become more common in recent years. Gov. Kate Brown did not issue a declaration during a 2021 “heat dome” event that killed roughly 100 people, many of them in the Portland metro region. She did declare an emergency during another heat wave later that year, and again in 2022.
Friday’s announcement marks the first time Kotek has declared a heat emergency since she took office in early 2023. She said in a statement that government programs increasing the availability of air conditioners and improvements in the state’s energy grid should make such declarations less necessary in the future.
“However, gaps exist today,” Kotek said. “In the interest of safety and human life over the next several days, I am declaring an emergency due to extreme heat.”
