Know the signs
- Heat exhaustion: heavy sweating, weakness, cool pale clammy skin, fast weak pulse, cramps, nausea or fainting. Move to a cooler place, loosen clothes, use cool wet cloths and sip water. Get medical help if they vomit or it lasts more than an hour. NWS
- Heat stroke is an emergency: throbbing headache, confusion, slurred speech, and hot red skin. Call 911, cool the person with cool cloths or a bath, and don't give them anything to drink. NWS
Stay cool
- Air conditioning is best. Drink fluids even before you're thirsty, and wear loose, light-colored clothes. CDC
- Don't count on a fan alone in extreme heat. Red Cross
- No AC or no power? Go to a library, mall or public cooling center, and plan how you'll get there. Red Cross
- During an outage: drink non-alcoholic fluids, take it easy, take cool showers, and check on older neighbors and young children. CDC
Who's at higher risk
- Older adults, babies and children, pregnant women, people with medical conditions and outdoor workers. People over 65 may not feel the heat building. Red Cross
Cars
- Never leave a child, a disabled person or a pet in a car. A child can die in 10 minutes, cracked windows barely help, and it's dangerous even on 70°F days. Keep the car locked so kids can't climb in. NWS
When the grid goes down in a heat waveThe kit's medical library covers heat illness first aid, and it runs at about 12 watts in field mode, so a small battery keeps it going.
The basic kit
Ready.gov's basic kit includes water (one gallon per person per day for several days), several days of food, a battery or hand-crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio, a flashlight, a first-aid kit, extra batteries, a whistle, a manual can opener, local maps, and a phone with chargers and a backup battery. Ready.gov NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts warnings around the clock from more than 1,000 transmitters. NWS
Sources checked November 8, 2026. This guide summarizes official advice and isn't a substitute for instructions from local emergency officials.