FRESNO (KMJ) — Cooling centers in Visalia, Fresno, and Madera County are all open today, to help the public deal with the rising temperatures, but those in Merced County remain closed.
It comes as the week’s worth of rising temperatures continues.
It’s prompting valley cities to take action, and open up the cooling centers to help residents keep the heat away when the sun’s intensity starts getting dangerous.
The opening times listed below are only valid when the local authorities have announced that the temperature is high enough to put them into use. They’re not open permanently.
In the City of Madera, the Pan Am Community Center at 703 E Sherwood Way will be open between 8am and 8pm, until Friday June 3rd. The city’s other site, The Frank Bergon Senior Center, will be available between 8am and 2.30pm, also until Friday June 3rd.
In the City of Chowchilla, the Chowchilla Senior Center will be operational between 9am and 1pm, Monday to Friday.
In Madera County there are five centers open to help keep residents out of the sun’s heat:
- Coarsegold Community Center at 35540 Highway 41, Coarsegold. Open Monday to Friday 10am until 1pm.
- Yosemite Lakes Park Clubhouse at 30250 Yosemite Springs Parkway, Coarsegold. Open all week 8am until 8pm.
- Sierra Senior Center at 49111 Cinder Lane, Oakhurst. Open Monday to Friday from 9am until 2pm, and the first three Saturdays of the month from 9am until 4pm.
- Grace Community Church, 56442 Road 200, North Fork. Open Monday to Friday from 10am until 1pm.
- Rancho Hills Senior Center, 37739 Berkshire Drive, Madera, Open Monday to Friday from 9am until 1pm.
In Visalia, the Transit Center at 425 E. Oak Avenue will be serving as their cooling center. It’ll be welcoming people in from 10am until 10pm, from Thursday June 2nd until Sunday June 5th.
“For those individuals that don’t have transportation easily available, all of the bus routes will eventually lead to the transit center”, explains the city’s Allison Lambert.
In Fresno, there are five cooling centers available:
- Ted C. Wills Community Center, 770 N. San Pablo.
- Frank H. Ball Neighborhood Center, 760 Mayor.
- Mosqueda Community Center, 4670 E. Butler.
- Pinedale Community Center, 7170 N. San Pablo.
- Romain Neighborhood Park, 745 N. First.
“When the temperature [forecast] rises above 105 degrees, we open up the cooling centers for the public between the hours of noon and 8pm”, details the city’s Mark Standriff.
Both the City of Fresno and the City of Merced await a 105 forecast by the National Weather Service as a prompt to open the cooling centers. Which means that the forecast has to specify that the temperature will reach 105 degrees or higher in the area served by the cooling center in order for the City of Fresno or the County of Merced to open them.
The City of Fresno has announced that because the forecast predicts high temperatures for the rest of the week, their cooling centers will remain open until Sunday June 5th.
However, in Merced County, if one city gets above that 105 forecast limit then all the county’s cooling centers will be open. Therefore, if Atwater’s temperatures are predicted above 105 degrees, then those in Livingston and Los Banos will be open too.
In Merced County, the locations below are those that have been confirmed to KMJ as active cooling centers:
- Atwater Community Center, 760 E. Bellevue, Atwater – from 8am until 6pm
- City/County Building, 1546 Golden Gate Ave, Dos Palos – from 8am until 8pm.
- County Library, 205 Sixth St, Gustine – during normal library hours
- Community Center, 645 7th St, Los Banos – between 8am and 5pm
- Police Department Lobby, 1446 C St., Livingston – between 1pm and 8 pm
- Civic Center, 678 W 18th St., Merced – between 3pm and 8pm.
Additionally, a number of Merced County libraries will also be acting as cooling centers as well.
