Sunapee opens Safety Services Building as cooling station during heat warning

Sunapee opened the Safety Services Building as a cooling station on July 1 after the National Weather Service issued an Extreme Heat Warning for much of the area. The town said the building was available throughout the day for anyone needing relief from the heat, and residents who needed access after 4 p.m. were told to call the Sunapee Police Department at (603) 763-5555.

The move put a municipal public-safety building into emergency use as temperatures and humidity climbed across Sullivan County and much of New Hampshire. Regional forecasts put parts of the state under dangerous conditions from Wednesday, July 1, through Friday, July 3, with heat index values reaching as high as 111 degrees in some areas. Sunapee’s emergency message focused on keeping people from waiting too long to seek help as the heat lingered over several days.

The town singled out children, older adults and people with medical conditions as the people most likely to need the cooling station. That warning matches federal health guidance: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says people age 65 and older are more prone to heat-related illness, while infants and young children rely on others to keep them cool and hydrated when temperatures rise. The National Institute on Aging also warns that chronic conditions and some medications can make heat more dangerous.

Sunapee’s decision landed in a county where the heat can touch a large share of the population. Sullivan County’s estimated population was 43,961 on July 1, 2025, and 24.7 percent of residents were 65 or older, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. In a rural county with older housing, seasonal visitors and limited access to air conditioning, a designated cooling station can become more than a convenience when the weather turns extreme.

The National Weather Service urged people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned spaces, stay out of the sun and check on relatives and neighbors. It also told people to take extra precautions outdoors and to act quickly when symptoms of heat exhaustion or heat stroke appear. New Hampshire Public Radio noted in June that the state’s summers are getting warmer and wetter and that heat is the leading weather-related cause of death in the United States, underscoring why local heat-response steps now carry real public-health weight in communities like Sunapee.