Tulsa To Open Cooling Stations Soon As Heat Rises

TULSA, Okla. - Tulsa will likely be opening cooling stations soon now that the temperatures are climbing.

The City of Tulsa plans to make sure those stations will have physical distancing and other safety measures in place.

Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency Executive Director Joe Kralicek said the city is ready to open the cooling stations once they're needed. 

“The other trigger that we have is based off of the national weather service’s extreme heat warnings. If we have extreme heat warnings for multiple days in a row," said Kralicek.

The cooling stations help those who don't have a cool place to go, but, this year, they'll be a little different.

“We will have masks, we will be enforcing social distancing at these locations, and they will be sanitized and cleaned on a regular basis for everybody’s safety," said Kralicek.

He said the city plans to switch to bottle water instead of refillable cups and a water cooler. Kralicek said even with people wearing masks during the summer heat, that shouldn't be a factor when it comes to heat related calls.

“CDC still recommends wearing masks if you’re going to be out in public, they’ve done a lot of studies with these masks especially with the cloth and surgical procedure type masks they do not harm the amount of oxygen in your blood," said Kralicek.

The cooling station locations are the same as they've been in the past; The Equality Center, Salvation Army, John 3:16, and the Social Services building.

"We're not going to let them down,” said Fransen. “We're going to make it through this."