San Antonio unveils 52-action Heat Resilience Playbook, cites nearly 2,400 heat-related illnesses since 2022

San Antonio officials on April 23 updated the Community Health Committee on a newly compiled Heat Resilience Playbook that lays out 52 implementation actions to reduce heat-related illness and strengthen neighborhood cooling.

"The heat resilience playbook is the city's implementation roadmap for extreme heat," Laura Patino, director of the Office of Resilience and Sustainability, told the committee. Patino said the plan groups actions into new actions, existing actions and improvements, and that “over 80% of these actions are ongoing.” She said the playbook is organized around two goals—"safe and prepared San Antonians" and "cooler neighborhoods"—and four objectives that include outreach, relief sites, built-environment adaptation and data.

Patino said Metro Health data and UTSA vulnerability mapping show that since 2022 the city has reported nearly 2,400 heat-related illnesses categorized as dehydration, fainting, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. She described several implementation efforts now under way: coordinated outreach to high-risk groups (unhoused residents, older…