“Will FEMA Respond to Extreme Heat Emergencies? Advocates Push for Change After Deadly Heat Wave”

In 2021, the Pacific Northwest experienced a devastating heat dome that paralyzed the region, leading to overwhelmed emergency departments, buckled roads, and hundreds of deaths. While FEMA responded to disasters like Hurricane Ida, victims of the heat dome did not receive federal support. This discrepancy has prompted a coalition of environmental nonprofits, labor unions, health professionals, and environmental justice groups to petition FEMA to add extreme heat and wildfire smoke to the list of disasters they respond to.

Jean Su, director of the Energy Justice Program at the Center for Biological Diversity, highlights that heat is now the number one killer in climate emergencies. Climate change has intensified the risks of heat-related deaths, with at least 2,200 people dying from heat-related causes in 2021, according to the CDC.

Historically, FEMA has not responded to extreme heat emergencies, as the agency typically focuses on disasters with major physical infrastructure damage. However, the Stafford Act, FEMA’s guiding law, is flexible and inclusive of disasters not explicitly listed. While FEMA has denied requests for heat emergencies in the past, the agency could potentially respond to a heat emergency without a change in language in the Stafford Act.

The thresholds for a heat wave to be considered a disaster are high, with factors like physical infrastructure damages and impacts on health facilities being considered. Heat-related deaths are often uncounted or undercounted, making it challenging to estimate the true costs of a heat disaster.

If FEMA were to respond to a heat emergency, they could provide cooling facilities, water stations, generators, and medical assistance to overwhelmed hospitals. Additionally, FEMA could fund recovery and resilience efforts to prevent similar disasters in the future. Adelita Cantu, a public health nurse, emphasizes the importance of addressing chronic heat risks to save lives.

The petitioners calling for FEMA to include extreme heat and wildfire smoke in their purview argue that the risks are increasingly acute and that FEMA is ill-equipped to handle the climate emergency. They stress the need for FEMA to adapt to the new elevated level of emergencies that result in actual deaths rather than just property damage.