Extreme heat kills more people than nearly every other weather event combined. But does the government respond to these potentially lethal events as they do with hurricanes and floods? Not yet.
Yet there has never been a presidential disaster declaration for a heat wave, no matter how deadly. Some say a change is long overdue.
“We are living through the realities of climate change,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, whose Texas city has been blanketed in triple-digit temperatures as part of a heat wave stretching from Florida to New Mexico. “This is an artifact of a bygone era.”
In response, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said the agency is not “sitting idly by” on extreme heat. She said the agency is helping communities prepare through mitigation funding and spreading awareness about safety.
“Heat is the number one natural hazard killer across the United States, and we are seeing a continued increase in the number of heat domes that different communities are experiencing,” Criswell said in a Washington Post Live interview Wednesday.
One of the agency’s regional administrators also hosted a first-ever heat summit, she added, where FEMA’s role in helping communities better withstand heat was discussed.
Despite those efforts, three declaration requests for extreme heat have been denied, according to a 2022 Congressional Research Service report. A spokesperson for FEMA did not comment on the nature of the requests and the reason for their denial.
