Heat-related 911 calls and emergency room visits across New York City surged Wednesday as the summer's latest heat wave gripped the region, officials said.
Emergency medical crews responded to 209 heat-related calls on Wednesday, and hospitals recorded 151 heat-related emergency room visits the same day, according to city health figures.
The surge came amid brutal conditions that are only forecast to get worse. The heat index reached 100 on Wednesday and climbed above 105 on Thursday, when the temperature in Central Park reached 100 degrees, the first triple-digit reading in the city in more than a decade, according to the city’s emergency management office.
FDNY firefighters respond to a commercial building fire on Scott Avenue in Greenpoint on Thursday.
The extreme heat also coincided with a large fire Thursday afternoon at the rear of a three-story commercial building on Scott Avenue in Greenpoint. The FDNY said 63 units and 192 Fire and EMS personnel responded, and no injuries were immediately reported as firefighters continued working at the scene.
An extreme heat warning remained in effect across all five boroughs, and officials warned that dangerous conditions would persist through the rest of the heat wave.
City officials described the heat-related emergency call volume as high, but expected for an emergency of this scale, and said the health department had not flagged the numbers as rising uncontrollably.
Construction workers cover themselves to shield from the sun, even in the sweltering heat.
The National Weather Service predicts Friday will be the hottest day of the current wave, with the actual temperature reaching 101 degrees. The heat index could be much higher when factoring in humidity.
New Yorkers on the street Thursday were doing their best to stay cool. Kevin Mullins, 29, cut a smoke break short to get back in the AC at his SoHo office building. He said he feels bad for outdoor workers and has been checking on his elderly mom regularly.
"She's 75, so you know, and this heat is not good for like elderly neighbors," he said. "So if anybody has elderly neighbors, I would say check up on them, make sure they're OK, make sure if they need anything, if you're able and you could go. Do them a favor and maybe get them some food or water because it's very dangerous for the elderly to be outside."
Last summer ran higher on its worst days, when heat-related emergency room visits reached 228 and 265 on two days in late June 2025, according to city health data.
Still, serious heat waves are becoming more frequent. This summer has already brought three heat waves with more than 100 heat-related EMS calls, up from two in all of 2025 and one in 2024, according to city health data.
The strain extended to the power grid. The New York Independent System Operator, which runs the state's electricity system, issued an "energy watch" for Thursday, citing a decline in operating reserves. The grid was operating normally, it said, with enough resources to meet demand.
Con Edison reported scattered outages throughout the city and said it was cutting power to some residents in Riverdale while it restores power. Staten Island appeared to have the most outages Thursday afternoon according to Con Ed's outage map.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged New Yorkers to conserve energy, asking them to set air conditioners to 78 degrees, turn off unused lights and electronics, and hold off on running dishwashers and laundry until early morning or late at night.
"During a historic heat wave, AC will save lives," Mamdani said. "But only if we keep the grid stable enough for it to stay on."
NYC Emergency Management directed residents without air conditioning to find a cooling center at nyc.gov/beattheheat or by calling 311.
