State officials visit Redding to discuss update to California’s Extreme Heat Action Plan
Officials with several state agencies held a listening session in Redding today. They asked community members to weigh in on topics connected to extreme heat, including appropriate services, resilient infrastructure, nature-based solutions and how to increase public awareness of risk.
Officials with the Governor’s Office of Land Use & Climate Innovation, as well as the state’s Natural Resource and Environmental Protection agencies were among several state representatives in Redding today to talk about the impacts of extreme heat.
The state categorizes heat as extreme when temperatures rise above historic averages for a particular region and remain elevated over a period of time. It’s a public health risk that particularly impacts seniors, infants and the unhoused as well as those with disabilities. Across California, communities work to combat that risk by providing warnings related to extreme heat and opening cooling centers.
But there’s much more to the issue of responding to extreme heat, as documented in California’s Extreme Heat Action Plan. California first launched the plan in 2022. An update is due July 1. That’s why hearing about heat response from those across the state is top of mind, officials said today.
Community members representing a variety of local organizations gathered at the Redding City Hall Community Room. After a brief introduction on the topic of extreme heat and the state’s efforts to respond to the issue, organizers divided the room into four listening groups and encouraged movement from table to table to allow those present to weigh in on the central goals of California’s newest draft plan.
Those goals include building public awareness and notification processes related to heat risks, strengthening community services and responses, increasing the resilience of infrastructure and finding ways to utilize nature-based solutions to increasing heat.
Summer temperatures soar in Redding and across parts of Shasta, making the topic one of vital importance to a wide spectrum of community leaders. And while climate impacts, including extreme heat, are considered political topics by some, comments today showed the broad impact that intense heat can have on a community’s needs.
Nick Zettel, the director of Redding Electric Utility, was among many to share his thoughts about what the needs are for the rural north. Pointing out that wildfire risk is driven by extreme heat, Zettel said he finds it concerning that the state isn’t offering funding to support municipalities with addressing wildfire mitigation as part of electrical infrastructure updates.
“If the state doesn’t help,” Zettel said, “rate payers are the ones who have to take on that cost.”
A state representative nodded vigorously as they took notes on their laptop. While the economic costs of extreme heat were front of mind for some who attended today’s session, others were focused on encouraging policy changes related to issues including landlord responsibilities, power company shutoffs and accessibility of cooling centers.
Meanwhile, urban planners and environmentalists alike chimed in on the need for both preserving and planting trees in an effort to increase Redding’s shade canopy. A representative from the Shasta Regional Transportation Planning Agency (SRTA) said it’s easy to get funding to plant shade trees along routes like Highway 273 where lower-income community members both live and walk, but money to maintain those trees once planted remains a barrier.
The need to protect critical infrastructure also came up. Former Shasta Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen chimed in on that topic, saying that more care should be taken to safeguard election processes amid rising heat. She noted that 33% of Shasta’s county-wide elections over recent years have taken place on days with temperatures above 90 degrees, suggesting that more attention should be paid to how extreme heat could impact voter access.
Community members were perhaps most engaged on the topic of improving public outreach efforts related to extreme heat. That’s something the state is working on, representatives said. The state has rolled out CalHeatScore, a centralized site with a mapping tool intended to increase awareness and information about heat. But some said today that the state needs to increase accessibility, especially for the most vulnerable citizens.
“There are too many people who aren’t in the alert system,” tech business owner Jason Salter said, noting that the state’s current approach requires signing up to receive information. A model that proactively provided information to those who need it is more likely to be effective, especially with those most at risk, he said — emphasizing that such a system should be clear, defined and directive.
“We need a system that says, ‘This is the danger, this is what you need to do next, and here’s where you can go,’” Salter explained, amid emphatic nods of agreement from around the table.
Through April 8, the public comment period for California’s draft Extreme Heat Action Plan remains open. Community members can submit ideas and comments by mail, email or online.
3.17.2026 8:55 a.m.: We have updated the story to reference the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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It’s not exactly viasble, but if we need to worry about heat and cooling costs and all that, we can do what Arizona, new Mexico, and parts of Australia do, and put new builds, either completely, or mostly underground, so you’ll have parts of your house that will be easier and cheaper to cool (and heat technically)
Native shade trees like Oaks would help with keeping the cost of maintenance low. Overhead cloth canopies are also a cheap but effective way shade walking paths.
Redding has been experiencing summer heat for generations! if we have learned anything about the left and Democrats, they love to strike crisis in order to siphon money into NGO‘s that really do nothing more than steal! The taxpayers are done with this shit!
I’m with Jon, Redding’s summers aren’t as hot as they were 50 years ago. They wouldn’t lie to us about it getting hotter would they?
Nick: any data to back your claim? The data I’ve reviewed contradicts it.
Number of Redding days over 115 degrees according to NOAA
1996-2026: 12
1965-1995: 18
1972: 5
2024: 5
1988: 4
1978: 3
1971: 2
1981: 2
What exactly are you trying to prove? If you’re trying to prove that Summers were hotter 50 years ago, you’re really choosing a weird way to demonstrate that.
It would make much more sense to compare the annual average summer temperature, rather than what you are trying to do?
But that would also show that the average annual summer temperature is more than it was 50 years ago, wouldn’t it?
I think the hottest days have more of an impact than the year’s average high temperature, but since you asked:
Average Redding daily high
1996-2025: 76.5
1966-1995: 76.4
That’s insignificant, especially considering how much additional asphalt & concrete is covering Redding these days compared to 1980 (to say nothing of the population increase and near universal adoption of air conditioning).
SURELY you wouldn’t lie to us Nick. I couldn’t imagine it.
You making stuff up …no. Say it ain’t so.
But if the summers were hotter 50 years ago, how did any of us survive? It would have been 120+ degrees!!
But I guess it’s the same as people having to walk to school 5 miles there and back, always in the snow, uphill both ways. Yeah?
Btw, there are these pesky facts about what the temperatures were in 1976 that can be looked up. Not only online, but also in books that were published right around that time. BOOKS, Nick, before the internet. Before anyone dreamed of ,”global warming”. Are these prehistoric books lies as well?
And if they are, what about certain religious texts that came before those? Surely those wouldn’t lie to us.
But you being a man of discernment, I’m sure that you are able to tell the rest of us commoners what the truth actually is.
Have a good night, Nick.
wow, vague political fingerpointing and whining, up here? I’m shocked.
Using native trees such as Oak or Pine would certainly decrease the maintenance costs. They do just fine by themselves once they’ve matured.
Another inexpensive and immediate solution could be cloth shade canopies. Just need some polls and some rope.