JUPITER, Fla. — Residents at an assisted living facility in Jupiter were relocated Tuesday evening after an air conditioning outage, according to Palm Beach County Fire Rescue.
The problem occurred at Addington Place of Jupiter, located in the 1000 block of Community Drive.
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue (PBCFR) said several agencies conducted a joint assessment of the situation on Tuesday, confirming a central air conditioning outage throughout the four-story building.
The problem caused multiple rooms to have temperatures of 81 degrees or hotter.
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) considers these temperatures unsafe and requires the relocation of residents to an environmentally controlled space.
Fire Rescue said the facility activated its Emergency Plan and moved 60 residents from the Memory Care and Assisted Living areas to other facilities.
"Responders and facility staff worked to give residents every opportunity to remain in place, using portable air conditioning units and taking advantage of the sun going down to lower temperatures and humidity," Fire Rescue said in a statement.
Despite these efforts, the agency said conditions did not improve, with ground-floor common areas remaining above 83 degrees at 9 p.m. and hotter temperatures occurring in upper-level floors and rooms.
Officials decided to temporarily cease operations at the facility, and all 138 residents are safely relocated to climate-controlled locations.
Fire Rescue said the facility will remain closed until air conditioning repairs are completed and inspections by PBCFR's Fire Marshal's Office, AHCA, and Palm Beach County Emergency Management verify compliance.
