Despite the temperatures starting to drop, the City of Kamloops has decided to keep the emergency cooling operations open through the entire long weekend at the Sandman Center.

The City’s Health and Wellness Supervisor Linda Stride says Sandman will be the only cooling center available, as plans to open other community centers in the city were derailed by a lack of available staff.

“We did a recruitment drive for volunteers, and we were lucky to get 30 volunteers to come forward and we just did that training this week, so as such, we have been staffing Sandman with staff.”

Despite the Sandman being under-utilized earlier in the week, when they first opened it, Stride says during the height of the heatwave on Thursday saw roughly 60 people using the Sandman to cool down.

“The first couple of days people either don’t hear about it, or are just trying to get through the heat, but I think by the time they get to day three or day four of hot hot weather, everybody is tired, and they really do need a break from the heat.”

Stride says they’ll reassess on Monday whether to keep the Sandman Center open beyond the weekend.

However, the forecast is calling for much cooler temperatures starting Tuesday.

-With Files from Abby Zieverink