Within the first nine months of the year, 911 calls for heat incidents in San Diego County have already exceeded heat-related totals from all of last year, according to county data.
As of Sept. 17, the county received 378 emergency calls, 131 more than all of 2025.
Calls spiked during two major heat waves this year: 35 between March 13-21 and 62 between Sept. 7-11, according to the data. On Sept. 8, the county recorded 23 calls — the most in a single day.
But the totals could be undercounts, said Willy Melendez, the city’s deputy fire chief.
“When calls come in, we don’t necessarily (know) unless they’re very specific on the 911 call that they’re heat-related,” he said. “They can come in many different forms, such as headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness or just general malaise.”
Melendez said first responders expect calls to keep climbing during the current heat wave. The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat warning for coastal areas over the weekend through Thursday night.
The city’s total 911 calls between Friday and Sunday don’t show how many were heat-related, but calls went up, the county’s data showed, as temperatures surpassed the 90s near the coast and 100s across inland and foothill areas over the weekend.
“We had a significant increase in our call volume Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with Saturday being the peak of our increase,” said Melendez. “Our total calls coming into our dispatch center for the metro zone was up 42%, with 925 calls being taken in the 24-hour period. The total number of incidents within the city of San Diego just on Saturday, Oct. 3 was 729, which is a 41% increase as compared to the last three years.”
Several of those calls resulted in hospital visits. On Saturday, more than 400 people were transported by ambulance to a hospital, an increase of 30% from the same day last year, according to the city.
In anticipation, Melendez said the city has added additional ambulances on the streets and extended cooling center hours.
Most 911 calls this year are coming from neighborhoods in the city of San Diego. A majority came from people between the ages of 15 and 44. Men accounted for 231 of the 378 calls, the data showed.
San Diego County public health officer Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan said that may be because, “We have a lot of folks who are working in San Diego outdoors. We have folks who are playing, you know, sports and things like that outdoors.”
He said the public can prevent heat-related health problems by staying hydrated with electrolytes, wearing loose clothing, avoiding outdoors as much as possible and seeking places with air conditioning. The county offers cool zones and transportation can be provided by calling 211.
