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Temperature limits for Racine senior housing
Racine leaders adopted a rule requiring senior housing to keep common areas at or below 81 degrees after Lake Oaks residents reported dangerous conditions when the air conditioning failed last summer.
RACINE, Wis. - Racine leaders approved a new temperature ordinance for senior living facilities months after residents at Lake Oaks Apartments endured days without air conditioning during extreme summer heat.
What we know:
City officials crafted the rule after seniors reported unbearable conditions last summer, when cooling systems at Lake Oaks failed for days.
On Tuesday, the Racine Common Council approved a new ordinance requiring senior living facilities to keep indoor gathering spaces below 81 degrees. Alderman Tyler Townsend said he began working with the city attorney on a solution shortly after the issue was first made public.
What they're saying:
Janet Hammes is one of dozens of seniors who felt the heat of the summer, quite literally.
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"Our coolers weren’t working, it was so hot at Lake Oaks," said Hammes. "This kind of thing goes on all the time."
Hammes spoke at the Racine Common Council meeting, saying the heat was so intense that one of her neighbors almost died.
Another resident, Delores Williams, also described how she tried to stay safe during the heat wave. She was among the first residents to sound the alarm when the cooling system failed.
"I’ve got a unit running. I have a fan in the window to blow the heat out. I’ve got a fan going in each room," said Williams.
Dig deeper:
Townsend said conditions inside were extreme.
"Most of them were over 90% humidity," he said. "Over the summer, I got a bunch of calls, I went over there, tried talking to these people and they could hardly talk to you – wheezing in the hallways and not all of them had places to go."
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Townsend said state law does not allow municipalities to require buildings to install air conditioning, which is why the ordinance focuses on temperature limits instead of equipment.
Officials say buildings that violate the ordinance could face fines up to $1,000 a day.
Extreme heat; Racine renters at senior living facility without A/C
The extreme heat blanketing southeast Wisconsin is dangerous. That is especially true for people who do not have central air conditioning. At one Racine senior living community, renters say they are sweating through the pain.
The Source: The information in this post was collected and produced by FOX6 News.