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Concept
Warming center
Summary
A warming center (also a heat bank or warm bank) is a short-term emergency shelter that operates when temperatures or a combination of precipitation, wind chill, wind and temperature become dangerously inclement. Their paramount purpose is the prevention of death and injury from exposure to the elements. This may include acute trauma from falling objects such as trees, or injury to extremities due to frostbite. A more prevalent emergency which warming centers seek to prevent is hypothermia, the risk for which is aggravated by factors such as age, alcohol consumption, and homelessness.
Thus warming centers are frequently directed to the circumstances of persons who are unsheltered due to a personal state of homelessness and who, for one reason or another, do not utilize existing homeless shelters. In other circumstances, centers serve stranded motorists or, during cold-weather power outages, homeowners and tenants.
In some cases, when cold snaps threaten wildlife, they are created and operated to protect endangered wild animals. Cold blooded animals such as turtles are particularly vulnerable as are their hatchlings. Emergency shelters vary in policy on pets, companions, or domesticated animals, although service animals may be admitted even when other animals are prohibited. During large scale disasters, there are frequently separate locations including a safe place for horses.
While they are in some cases directly affiliated with existing homeless shelter operations, warming centers are more frequently housed in different locations. Due to zoning, special use permit, and fire code restrictions, homeless shelters and day centers serving homeless populations are often legally constrained from exceeding authorized capacity. Not infrequently, existing shelters are engaged with ongoing negotiations with neighbors who in some cases take a NIMBY (not in my backyard) attitude toward existing operations. Any increase in capacity can become politicized, despite the exigencies of spikes in cold temperature days, particularly when cold or rainy weather is routine.
Official source
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