We are only a few weeks into summer, but extreme heat has already smothered the country in a prolonged heat wave, shattering the record-breaking temperatures of 2023. More than 70 million Americans have been put under excessive heat warnings. From Florida to Phoenix to Las Vegas, multiple days of triple-digit weather are searing the United States.
Extreme heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer, trumping deaths from floods, hurricanes and tornadoes combined. And while high heat indices can be uncomfortable for healthy populations, extreme heat wreaks a disproportionately devastating toll on the country’s most vulnerable populations—including older adults and the very young, workers, communities of color and low-income communities, and people who are ill or have disabilities.
Early reporting has already documented the deaths of three men—ages 64, 75 and 87—in Portland, Ore., in early July. Older adults are particularly vulnerable because their bodies cannot adjust as quickly to temperature changes. Acute levels of heat stress lead to blood clotting, inflammation and cellular breakdown—processes that accelerate in older people and lead to more lethal outcomes. Among older adults and Black Americans, the number of deaths from extreme heat is expected to triple by mid-century, as preexisting disparities in respiratory health drive heat death inequality.
Climate Change as Driver-in-Chief of Extreme Heat
Though high heat is a natural hazard, the crescendo of extreme heat events can be traced to a single root: human-caused climate change, largely driven by the combustion of fossil fuels. It’s undeniable that we have entered into a dangerous new era of more frequent, more deadly extreme heat events. Global climate scientists estimate that global average temperatures will surpass 1.5°C (2.7°F) above industrial levels in the near-term without dramatic global action.
‘No U.S. president has ever issued an emergency or major disaster declaration for extreme heat.’
These fatal outcomes, though, can be prevented—not only by ending the era of fossil fuels (in which the United States plays a pivotal role as the world’s largest oil and gas producer) but also by immediately deploying commonsense infrastructure in our most vulnerable communities to protect them from extreme heat.
FEMA’s Game-Changing Role to Address Extreme Heat
But our governments on all levels are failing to use the tools in their toolbox to tackle extreme heat in a robust and comprehensive way. While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently issued a long-awaited proposed rule to protect workers from extreme heat, no federal agency is charged with taking the lead on a comprehensive plan to tackle this specific climate emergency. At the same time, most states lack any extreme-heat response plan, and there are only a handful of chief heat officers sprinkling the country’s cities.
On the federal front, no U.S. president has ever issued an emergency or major disaster declaration for extreme heat. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—the country’s premier disaster agency—denied requests for federal funding in 1980 from Missouri after 400 people died in a heat wave, and in Illinois in 1996 after 700 people died in a Chicago heat wave. In 2022, FEMA rejected a major disaster declaration request from California in response to wildfires ignited by a 10-day heat dome that killed an estimated 395 Californians.
That’s why my organization, the Center for Biological Diversity, a few weeks ago teamed up with the country’s largest labor unions, public health groups and environmental and social justice organizations to petition FEMA to officially recognize extreme heat and wildfire smoke as “major disasters” under the Stafford Act. This simple and elegant designation would help unlock critical funding for under-resourced state and tribal governments to comprehensively tackle extreme heat with commonsense infrastructure.
The Stafford Act, the animating statute for FEMA, allows states and tribes to ask FEMA and the president for a “major disaster” declaration that unlocks the broadest buckets of federal funding for mitigation and disaster response.
We are urging FEMA to treat extreme heat with the same rigor and seriousness as the pandemic.
The statutory definition of “major disaster” already is broad enough to include extreme heat. Defined as “any natural catastrophe . . . including . . . floods [and] hurricanes,” it is not limited to enumerated events. Extreme heat squarely fits into this broad definition, despite FEMA’s rejection of previous extreme heat requests.
Our petition urges FEMA to treat extreme heat seriously and release funds to help states, tribes and local governments deal with the country’s No. 1 weather–related killer.
How FEMA Funds Could Tackle Extreme Heat, Including for Older Adults
What we’re asking for already has a precedent in how FEMA treated the COVID-19 pandemic. Both Presidents Trump and Biden declared COVID-19 as emergencies under the Stafford Act and then invited all states and tribes to request major disaster declarations, which they did. In response, FEMA and the federal government were able to treat a massive health threat—similar to extreme heat—with a giant mobilization of funds to deploy vital masks, respirators, air filtration systems and supportive structures for isolated sheltering.
We are now urging FEMA to treat extreme heat with the same rigor and seriousness. FEMA can officially characterize “extreme heat” as a major disaster and invite states and tribes to request major disaster aid. With that vital federal money, states and tribes could construct community cooling centers with air filtration systems strategically placed in vulnerable communities within walking distance of homes. They could weatherize poor housing stock to close holes and insulate homes to keep cooling in, while supplying homes with energy-efficient cooling that lowers power bills. And they could deploy life-saving rooftop and community solar systems and storage that keep electricity and cooling operating when the power grid buckles from extreme heat, wildfire and load surges. Federal funding in some cases can also support rental and utility bill assistance.
For older adults, these commonsense solutions can be particularly profound. Often with no active income, elders do not have sufficient financial means to maintain homes and have energy-efficient cooling systems. Assistance with retrofitting homes and nursing homes is therefore vital to older adults. Additionally, rooftop and community solar and storage can keep the electricity running during disasters, which is critical not only to keep cooling on but also to keeping life-saving medicines refrigerated and medical devices working.
Utility bill assistance would also be crucial for older adults. Jurisdictions like Washington, DC, have found that elders are unduly subjected to utility shutoffs and arrearages, likely due to their elevated cooling and heating needs and difficulties accessing assistance programs.
Our country faces a vacuum of leadership on extreme heat. FEMA is one agency, which has the potential to lead because of its ability to deliver infrastructure, but by no means is it the be-all and end-all. All federal agencies, states and local governments must come together with a comprehensive game plan that leverages national expertise and resources with state implementation, local knowledge and community relationships.
Older adults are one of the country’s most vulnerable populations, facing the frontlines of the extreme heat crisis. They deserve leadership and the rapid transformation of FEMA and all our governmental bodies to get on board and take bold action in this climate emergency. Lives depend on it.
Urge FEMA to make this vital and elegant change to classify extreme heat and wildfire smoke as major disasters by emailing this address: FEMA-IGA@fema.dhs.gov.
Jean Su, JD, MS, is the Energy Justice program director and senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity in Washington, DC.
Photo credit: Shutterstock/Yau Ming Low
