Nearly 80 Fraser Valley residents died in the summer’s wave

Last year’s unprecedented heat wave killed nearly 80 people across the Fraser Valley, according to figures released yesterday by the BC Coroners Service. Langley, Chilliwack, and Abbotsford each had at least 20 deaths. Another six people died in Mission. One other person died in the region, although there aren’t details of where. (Figures aren’t released for communities with fewer than five deaths.) Across BC, the heat dome event in late June and early July claimed at least 526 deaths. With 22 deaths and a smaller population than Langley or Abbotsford, Chilliwack had the highest per-capita death rate in the Fraser Valley.

The figures also show the heat wave didn’t just kill the elderly. Of 273 people who died in the Fraser Health region (by far the most affected), 77 were younger than 70. Across BC, 14 people under the age of 50 died from heat-related causes.

Ninety six per cent of deaths across the province occurred inside, with most—but not all—recorded on June 28 or 29.