{"id":118503,"date":"2026-07-06T18:27:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/118503\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T18:27:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:27:24","slug":"the-condo-that-became-an-oven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/118503\/","title":{"rendered":"The Condo That Became an Oven"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cost of the 2021 western North America heat wave and the fires it kindled was measured in records broken, lives lost and homes destroyed. Behind those numbers were millions of ordinary people forced to confront extraordinary times, as our world has become warmer.<\/p>\n

Five years later, The Tyee is presenting stories of five of those B.C. survivors<\/a> as told in their own words. Their testimonies were created with the Climate Disaster Project<\/a> at the University of Victoria. \u2014 Sean Holman<\/a> of the Climate Disaster Project<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Photo of Anna Geeroms for the Climate Disaster Project by Jimmy Jeong.<\/p>\n

\u2018Living in a greenhouse\u2019<\/p>\n

Anna Geeroms traded the lake for the ocean when she moved from Nelson to Vancouver after her mother started attending Emily Carr University \u2014 and she never left. She became part of its civic life, helping to start the local political party Vision Vancouver. Then she moved into consulting and open-source software design for non-profits. On top of that work, Anna is also a single mother to 14-year-old autistic twins, and a stepmother to a 23-year-old.\u00a0She spent years advocating for school support for the twins, especially her son, whose needs were repeatedly unmet by the public school system. It is those needs that also made them vulnerable to the extreme temperatures of the 2021 western North America heat wave.<\/p>\n

This is Anna\u2019s story as told to Maraya Cooper and Aryan Sethi.<\/p>\n

I bought my condo in 2020 and I was the last person to see it. They had just shut down in-person showings. When I went, it was infested with 40 moths. Because people would be disturbed by something like that, I was like, \u201cThis is a good sign.\u201d I put in a low offer and it got accepted. It was the only affordable place that could accommodate my family in Vancouver. <\/p>\n

We moved out of an old house. It was on a trucking route. When the trucks would go by, the windows would rattle. The condo was on the fourth floor, off the main street. We had skylights. It had a bank of southwest-facing windows that seemed nice.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

My whole life, I\u2019ve prized living in places that have good light. Growing up, we would go to beaches in the Kootenays and float around on the lake. I just love that feel of the warm sun on the skin. I never got a sunburn until I turned 12. The condo had a lot of light and a huge patio. I filled it with beautiful flowers. I thought we lived happily ever after.<\/p>\n

But it turned out that in the summer the sun incinerated everything on the patio. Everything went from lush and beautiful in May to completely roasted. You could cook an egg on the patio. It was like living in a greenhouse because there was so much glass. I was afraid the house would catch on fire \u2014 like when you were young, you have a magnifying glass to burn leaves. On a 30 C day, the apartment would get to 40 C. Almost right away, I remember thinking, \u201cOh, what have I done?\u201d We started with one air conditioner. Then, the same summer, another. The next year, we bought three more. They were in every window. <\/p>\n

I have this candelabra from my grandma. We had gone away for the weekend and came back finding my seven white candles all fallen over. It reminds me of somebody\u2019s Etsy project. My chocolate chips melted into a solid block. How can my brain function if chocolate is melting? I had coconut oil in the cupboard and it was all melty on the outside. It slipped out of my hand and I spilled hot coconut oil all over the place. <\/p>\n

You Google, \u201cWhat you could do to mitigate heat?\u201d I tried different methods to block the skylights: pink insulation with cardboard underneath, Styrofoam insulation, one year I tried just fabric. I asked the strata, \u201cCould I put skylight covers on the outside?\u201d They said no because you\u2019re not supposed to fasten anything to the building. They didn\u2019t believe that it was as hot as I said it was. So I put this thermometer in the corner of the patio. It read 46 C. It read 30 C inside when I have all the air conditioners running. I would take pictures and send it to the strata manager. She still didn\u2019t believe me. <\/p>\n

At one point, I installed reflective window film. With the double-paned windows, the reflective surface ends up just bouncing it around inside the windows. I ended up ripping the film down. Then I went through the blackout curtains phase. Then there was the patio blocking phase: I had a sail, like a sunshade. But I got told by strata to take it down. It\u2019s basically, try one thing and if it doesn\u2019t work, try something else.<\/p>\n

During the 2021 heat wave, it became intolerably hot. We all camped out in one tiny room because we couldn\u2019t get the rest of the house cool enough to survive. I would go to the kitchen and get food. Then I would run back and get in as fast as possible so that I wouldn\u2019t let the cold air out. <\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"image<\/p>\n

A Window into Making the City of Glass Greener and Happier<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tread more <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The kitchen was dishes stacked up high everywhere. I could not stand to do any housework in the heat. We had fruit flies, silverfish and mice. I would find where mice were getting in and seal it. Then they would be back. The kids got lice. It\u2019s so many hours spent picking through hair and itching yourself because you think, \u201cOh my God, it\u2019s on me.\u201d I thought of the end times, how the locusts come and the world turns into a desert. <\/p>\n

If there\u2019s another heat wave, you should check on all the moms with autistic kids. We’re not OK, I guarantee you. Everybody in our family takes medication that makes them more susceptible to heat exhaustion. My children were dysregulated and melting down. I\u2019d be in a Zoom meeting, presenting to the executives. My kids would be shouting at each other in the other room. What if I get fired for this? I have a mortgage. As a single parent it was a lot of pressure.<\/p>\n

I got wheezy lungs from the smoke coming through the air conditioner. I feel like I can\u2019t get a deep breath. It\u2019s like that edge of hysteria where you can’t regulate and you feel sheer panic. All of a sudden, my eyelids were itching, then red, then oozing, and then crusty. I Google \u201ceczema\u201d and \u201cforest fire\u201d and, sure enough, the smoke is like chemicals when houses are burning down. That causes eczema on your eyes. Seven creams in, I wasn\u2019t closer to finding an answer. I went to the doctor and got hydrocortisone. It didn\u2019t work. The mosquito bite I got swelled up like a baseball on my leg. The doctor gave me another cortisone cream. One day I was like, \u201cI wonder if I just put a little bit on my eyelids.\u201d Sure enough, 24 hours later, no eczema. <\/p>\n

Around that time, I made nettle pesto. It made my tongue tingle. Then my lips. Then I started feeling like my throat was closing. I was clearing my throat and I felt like I couldn\u2019t breathe. I was driving and all of a sudden I couldn\u2019t see out of the sides of my eyes, like tunnel vision. I tried to look in the mirror and I couldn\u2019t see. I thought, \u201cOh, you\u2019re having a panic attack.\u201d I took myself to the doctor. I had the beginnings of anaphylaxis. They say it was from stress, heat and trying new foods in the same time frame. I have an EpiPen now. <\/p>\n

I paid so much money on hydro bills for all the air conditioners, I was watching my bank account get destroyed. I\u2019ve had to reduce my work hours because of school advocacy for my children. Then the interest rate went up by $700 when I renewed. <\/p>\n

I had done all sorts of things like call your internet provider and see if you can get the bill knocked down, and downgrading in the grocery store. I went through a series of roommates to survive financially. At one point we moved my son into the dining room and created an artificial wall with a bunk bed. My daughter didn\u2019t want her friends to come over for a play date. I just knew I’m going to have to leave. I was a refugee from heat. <\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"image<\/p>\n

The Tyee Podcast: Extreme Heat Anxiety Is Rising<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tread more <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m fortunate I\u2019ve managed to angle myself into this moderate-income, long-term rental, but it doesn’t really feel over. There shouldn\u2019t be the ability for stratas to block heat pumps. Landlords should also have to mitigate. There should be a right to safe temperature. So many people died from the heat. There\u2019s more of that to come. I\u2019m hanging on to four of the five air conditioners. I can’t let them go until I know for sure that we’re safe in the summer. Somehow climate change is taking a back seat for people as they think about not being able to buy a TV because they aren\u2019t getting a raise. <\/p>\n

I always thought hell was a cold place. I remember growing up thinking, “When I get older, I’m going to go live in the desert,” because I loved the heat. I was like a sun worshipper. When things started to get back to normal, I welcomed the rain in a way that I never thought I would. It was heavenly to open the window and have fresh coastal air, a bit of salt, flowers, that smell when rain first hits the sidewalk. It’s so weird how something that you thought was great becomes hell when you have too much of it.<\/p>\n

This testimony was co-created by the Climate Disaster Project<\/a>, a newsroom co-ordinated at the University of Victoria that works with climate-impacted communities to document and investigate their stories. Subscribe to the project\u2019s newsletter here<\/a>. \"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cost of the 2021 western North America heat wave and the fires it kindled was measured in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[40400,27825,40401,40402,40403,17,16355,40404,14019,234,27828,40405,13988,40406,7078],"class_list":["post-118503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-2021-heat-dome","tag-aboriginal-affairs","tag-anna-geeroms","tag-aryan-sethi","tag-bc-extreme-heat","tag-canada","tag-child-welfare","tag-climate-disaster-project","tag-ecology","tag-environment","tag-feminism","tag-maraya-cooper","tag-poverty","tag-sean-holman","tag-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}