HERMISTON — The Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center in Hermiston has opened its facilities as a cooling station, providing shelter for people looking to escape the heat wave.

The air-conditioned event center will have multiple rooms open at 8 a.m. throughout the week for people seeking shelter, according to Jennifer Oswald, an administrator at EOTEC. The facilities expect to close around 8 p.m. each day but will allow people to stay longer if they still need a place to stay, she added. The event center will have limited space on Friday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. for a wedding that day, Oswald said.

If anyone doesn’t have transportation to or from the cooling center, they can call Hermiston Taxi at 541-567-6055 and the city of Hermiston will pay for the ride.

Midday on Tuesday, June 29, no one had shown up to the cooling station yet, but there was air conditioning, tables and jugs of ice water, as well as Wi-Fi and restrooms available. Trade and event center General Manager Al Davis said he hoped that once transportation was worked out — as it was later in the day — that more people would be able to take advantage of the offer.

He said he hadn’t initially paid attention to the forecast, but Monday, June 28, when he found out that it could get as hot as 118 degrees the next day, he made the decision to offer up space to anyone who needed it.

“I thought, I have the space and I’m gonna air condition it regardless,” Davis said, “so why not?”