US Tools to Fight Extreme Heat Debated as FEMA Pressured to Act

The push this week by a coalition of health, environmental, and labor groups for FEMA to use a key federal law to combat extreme heat and wildfire smoke is reigniting a debate over how the US responds to deadly weather events.

When a hurricane tears through a Midwestern town or a flood submerges homes along the Gulf Coast, the affected state’s governor can request assistance from the federal government by declaring a “major disaster.” Yet as scorching temperatures take an increasingly lethal toll across the US each summer, that recourse is not available for heat.

Groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition for rulemaking to the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week seeking to change that, arguing the language of the nation’s primary disaster response law, the Stafford Act, is broad enough to treat extreme heat and wildfire smoke as a major disaster without amending the legislation. Because the Stafford Act doesn’t explicitly mention extreme heat or smoke, FEMA hasn’t responded to those incidents in the way it does to other deadly weather events.

The petition came as much of the eastern US sweltered under the first major heat wave of the year.

Extreme heat kills more people on average each year than hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes combined, according to the National Weather Service, and public health professionals say the true number is likely far higher.

Past efforts to categorize extreme heat as a major disaster have little to show for their work. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) introduced a bill last year that would have inserted extreme heat into the Stafford Act, but its progress stalled in committee.

“It’s a practice issue on FEMA’s end,” Jean Su, senior attorney and energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an interview. “Statutorily, it’s broad enough for you to say yes, but in fact you’re not saying yes.”

Su likened the issue to Covid-19, which FEMA under the Trump and Biden administrations recognized as a major disaster despite the Stafford Act’s silence on disease or pandemics.

“We’re asking for the same statutory interpretation for heat as for Covid-19,” she said.

Most Effective Response

If a disaster declaration for heat or smoke works as the petitioners contend, FEMA could help state, local, and tribal authorities expand access to cooling centers, air purifiers, water stations, and other aid even before an incident occurs. As climate change increases the risk of extreme heat and wildfires, added protections would especially benefit agricultural workers, low-income communities, and people experiencing homelessness, Su and public health experts said.

But questions remain over the most effective way to recognize those events as major disasters, and exactly what impact doing so would have.

“FEMA is not an infinite resource,” said Hannah Perls, a senior staff attorney at Harvard University’s Environmental & Energy Law Program who studies equity in federal disaster response. “There’s an underlying assumption that if FEMA acknowledges extreme heat and wildfire smoke are major disasters and we can get a federal disaster response, it’ll solve the problem. But I’m not sure that’s true.”

A federal watchdog study last year found FEMA faced a staffing shortage of about 6,200 people, or 35% of its workforce.

To be sure, FEMA still plays a role in helping raise awareness about dangerous heat, both at the community and individual levels. And the agency doesn’t necessarily oppose a broader statutory interpretation.

There is nothing specific in the Stafford Act that precludes a declaration for extreme heat, FEMA’s press secretary, Daniel Llargués, said in an emailed statement.

But that doesn’t mean the agency is eager to embrace a larger role. Perls said that without clear legislative language forcing it to act, she expected FEMA to resist expanding its mandate.

Local Options

Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association and the state’s former top health official, said recognizing heat and smoke as major disasters could help the state’s homeless population access lifesaving refuge. Arizona faces some of the nation’s most extreme temperatures—Phoenix last summer endured 31 consecutive days of 110 degrees or hotter.

But there are plenty of other steps local governments can take to mitigate dangerous heat without a disaster declaration, Humble and Perls said. Labor protections for workers in dangerous environments and reforms to local zoning laws could protect huge numbers of vulnerable people, they said.

“You can measure a 10-degree difference just based on whether the city has put trees in these neighborhoods, and it’s no surprise that the low-income neighborhoods are the ones that haven’t had the tree investments,” Humble said.

Perls commended efforts by the Biden administration to marshal more federal resources toward combating extreme heat.

Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services released a mapping tool to aid public health planning and response efforts during heat waves. The administration had previously announced efforts to develop workplace safety standards for extreme heat and to study ways to make communities more resilient to dangerous temperatures.

Still, Perls said large gaps remain in mitigation efforts.

“We need a whole-of-government response,” she said. “There are a lot of things that need to be done that are outside the bounds of FEMA’s authority.”