With the National Weather Service having issued an "Excessive Heat Warning" in many parts of Southern California, officials have opened cooling centers at community facilities across the City of Los Angeles.

Your Los Angeles Fire Department would like to encourage our seniors and all other "at-risk" individuals to consider these sites as refuge from the heat. To find a cooling center in the greater Los Angeles area, local residents may call 2-1-1.

The Emergency Management Department for the City of Los Angeles, in cooperation with the Department of Recreation and Parks, has extended the operating hours of the following facilities until 9:00 PM. The extended hours are effective today, Thursday, August 9, 2012 and will remain in effect through the weekend until Sunday, August 12, 2012. Again, the extended hours are for the following facilities only:

Recreation and Parks (RAP) Cooling Centers:

Canoga Senior Citizen    
7326 Jordan Ave., Canoga Park, CA 91303
(818) 340-2633

North Hollywood Recreation Center
11430 Chandler Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601
(818) 763-7651

Sepulveda Recreation Center
8801 Kester Ave., Panorama City, CA 91402
(818) 893-3700

Sherman Oaks East Valley Adult Center (formally VNSO SC) 
5060 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
(818) 981-1284

Sunland Senior Citizen   
8640 Fenwick St., Sunland, CA 91040
(818) 353-9571

Sylmar Recreation Center
13109 Borden Ave., Sylmar, CA 91342
(818) 367-5656

Additionally, your Los Angeles Fire Department recommends taking the necessary precautions, if you must be outdoors. This includes, but is certainly not limited to: being well-hydrated, dressing in light-weight, loose-fitting clothes and recognizing your own, personal limitations. And please, try and reschedule any strenuous activities to the early morning or evening. Click here for more tips on Hot Weather Safety.

One last thing, please don't overlook your family pets. Make sure they too, have a place to escape the sun and ensure that each pet has plenty of water. Click here for more pet safety tips.

Please check back with us, here, in the Emergency Public Information Center (EPI-Center) for periodic updates on our heat-wave or tune-in to the local news.

Submitted by Matt Spence, Spokesman
Los Angeles Fire Department