Image Credit: City of Vancouver

By Victor Kaisar

Beat The Heat!

Kamloops to expand cooling response network with new misting stations

Mar 17, 2025 | 5:31 PM

KAMLOOPS — The City of Kamloops has begun to look for and evaluate locations where new misting stations will be set up to help people cool off in the hot summer months.

Emergency Preparedness Manager Ty Helgason says the City is expected to install around three to four misting stations this year, if council approves the initiative, – which was included as part of the 2025 supplemental budget – at its April 15 meeting.

“From April 15 to the start of when things get hot is not a long runway so we’re looking into the procurement and what its actually going to cost to implement and where we might be able to put them,” Helgason told CFJC Today.

“We have a pretty good chance of it going forward but nothing is concrete until that April 15 date, so we won’t commit any actual resources to it aside form staff time until then.”

Money for the misting stations will be coming from the City’s Climate Action Fund Reserve, which has an estimated balance of just under $1.3-million at the end of the 2024 fiscal year.

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While the initial ask was to spend $225,000 to buy, install, and operate up to 10 misting stations over the next three years, the initiative will be trialled as a pilot project, following concerns about vandalism that were raised by Councillor Nancy Bepple.

“What I would say is we put in a few and just see how it goes,” Bepple said. “This is the same kind of issue of the water fountains and the bike repair kits – something that can be destroyed quite easily. We have to try it, but I think we need to really watch how it goes.”

Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson also raised concerns, saying the misting stations would be “an attractant for the wrong population.”

“I remember [Portland Loos in San Diego] became an attractant for the wrong population, so when the regular population were afraid to use them, they actually took them out,” Hamer-Jackson said.

“I would suggest us getting people that need these facilities into better spots whether it be into cooling buildings as to me this is another bandaid solution. I think we’ve really got to work on getting people who need these stations into much better areas.”

Helgason says the aim is to install these misting stations in heavy-traffic areas – like bus exchanges – in the City. He also said parks and sports facilities – like McArthur Island – will also be considered, though all locations will be dependant on the proximity to existing potable water and drainage.

Protective Services Director Ken Uzeloc also said that misting stations were identified in the City’s Extreme Heat Response Plan that was presented to council last year.

“We identified the need for misting stations and cooling stations in some of the areas of the city where people can’t get to the Sandman Centre or to McArthur Island,” Uzeloc, who is also Kamloops Fire Chief, said. He said it should some of the more vulnerable people stay cool when the mercury rises.

“They don’t have air conditioning, they’re in areas that are primarily no trees, lots of concrete. Part of the discussion was around some of the issues we’re having with people going into the river as well from some of the venues.”

Helgason says the initiative will be evaluated in a year to see if any changes are necessary. That evaluation is also expected to determine whether the City goes ahead and installs the remaining misting stations.

Helgason also told CFJC Today that more details about the City’s heat response plan are expected to go before Council in late April or early May.