Is the heat and smoke of the fire a major disaster?

The nation’s top emergency response agency has long been a lifeline for cities and states struggling with disasters. As hurricanes strike, earthquakes, and tornadoes carve paths of destruction, the Federal Emergency Management Agency moves to provide critical resources and aid.

But for all that help, FEMA’s official definition of a “major disaster” excludes two threats that are increasingly dangerous to millions of Americans: extreme heat and wildfire smoke.

In a rulemaking petition filed Monday, the Center for Biological Diversity and more than 30 other environmental organizations, health groups and labor unions argue that it’s time for a change. They called for the Stafford Act — FEMA’s animation statute — to be amended to include extreme heat and fire smoke in the regulations.

Doing so, he said, would unlock disaster relief funding that would allow local governments to invest in central cooling and air filtration systems, pursue resilient energy solutions such as solar and community storage, and better prepare for emergencies.

“These twin climate disasters are now continuing, year after year, to exceed the economic and technical ability of state and local governments to manage, adapt, and mitigate further harm,” the petition states. “Federal action is necessary.”

Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science.

Currently, the Stafford Act defines a major disaster as “any natural disaster (including hurricane, tornado, hurricane, high water, wind wave, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, landslide, blizzard, or drought ), or, regardless of cause, fire, flood, or explosion, anywhere in the United States.

Lawyers for the Center for Biological Diversity argued that the definition was already broad enough to include heat and fire, but agency officials have historically been hesitant to provide assistance in those situations, when property damage and other material outcomes can be more difficult to define.

In 2022, FEMA denied a request from California for a major disaster declaration in response to a 10-day heat wave that killed 395 people and pushed the power grid to its limits. In its denial, the federal agency said “precedent is for evaluating different events and impacts, not seasonal or general atmospheric conditions,” according to the petition.

A Mesa, Ariz., resident is enjoying the cool air in his home after his air conditioner was repaired in the middle of the July 2023 heat wave.

(Ash Ponders/For The Times)

But the Stafford Act has been amended before, and FEMA has not been afraid to use it in other emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, President Trump then approved a request for a major COVID-19 disaster declaration for all states, tribes and territories under the Stafford Act. President Biden then approved a similar request from the Navajo Nation and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and provided $3.46 billion in hazard mitigation funds to all areas that have received a COVID disaster declaration.

“Together, the Biden and Trump administrations recognize that infectious diseases are major disasters under the Stafford Act, even though they are not listed under the definition of ‘major disaster,'” the petition said.

That way, the federal government has accepted the interpretation that there is a major disaster that goes beyond the definition, “so they have accepted our argument,” said Jean Su, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead author of the petition.

“And that begs the question, why can’t FEMA act on extreme heat and smoke from fires — extreme heat is the No. 1 weather killer in the United States,” he said.

Indeed, extreme heat has affected many US citizens, and the effects will only worsen in the coming years as climate change and other factors drive global temperatures higher.

According to the National Weather Service, extreme heat has caused more deaths in the past 30 years than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined, with 2023 showing the highest number of heat casualties. The heat poses a particular threat to children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with health conditions, as well as outdoor workers, low-income populations and communities of color.

Last year, a record-breaking heat wave left Phoenix in temperatures of 110 degrees or hotter for 31 consecutive days, causing more than 600 deaths and a spike in heat-related illnesses and sidewalk fires. The petition was born after the incident, Su said.

Other signatories include the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, the Service Employees International Union and the United Farmworkers Foundation.

A man wipes sweat from his face while fishing under a canopy at the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area in Los Angeles during a September 2022 heat wave.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Assn., said he signed the petition because the heat and smoke will continue to pose a health threat to the population, and “in these cases there are times when the state’s resources are not enough to deal with the problem.”

“Because this will become more frequent because of the urban heat island and climate change and the recalcitrance of these local jurisdictions, there will be more and more times when I think we have to burst federal resources to come.” he said.

Parts of the United States have been baking in extreme temperatures this year, including record highs in Las Vegas and Phoenix, which soared to 111 degrees and 112 degrees in early June, respectively. A heavy heat dome is expected to blanket much of the Midwest and East Coast this week.

What’s more, forecasters on the West Coast are predicting a potentially active fire season due to dry vegetation. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has responded to nearly 1,800 fires so far this year.

With the fire comes the danger of smoke – another destructive threat that can have deadly results. In fact, a new study found that fine particles emitted from California wildfires between 2008 and 2018 were responsible for about 55,700 premature deaths in the state.

Smoke from wildfires in California and other places, including Canada, has been blown far beyond the boundaries of the fire, with dangerous particles reaching as far as the East Coast of the US and Europe. And with more intense fire activity expected next year, the threat of smoke is growing in kind.

“Like extreme heat, smoke from forest fires is also a natural disaster that is becoming more frequent and severe due to anthropogenic climate change,” the petition said.

The cost of the hazard is also rising, with current and projected losses related to health care, agriculture, infrastructure improvements, workplace productivity and other outcomes running into the hundreds of billions of dollars, according to the petition.

“When you combine the climate crisis with the magnitude and frequency of natural disasters … it doesn’t stop,” said Christine Bolaños, director of communications with the Worker Defense Project, an advocacy organization based in Texas, which is experiencing the largest fires on record. earlier this year. “And we need some federal regulations to provide resources and support to these vulnerable communities.”

Bolaños said signing the petition was a “no-brainer,” especially given the impact of heat, smoke and other hazards on migrant workers and other at-risk populations.

“We really think that if there is more support – and the spotlight on potential solutions at the federal level – then there is hope at the state and local level, because some of these problems can only be solved when we work together. rather than in silos,” he said.

FEMA currently draws the majority of its resources from the Disaster Relief Fund, which is appropriated by Congress each year and can be spent year after year. From 2020, the annual allocation for the fund will range from $20 billion to $70 billion. FEMA’s spending also fluctuates, with spending in 2021 reaching $69 billion due to the pandemic, and only $19 billion in 2022. FEMA’s spending last year was $41 billion.

“It’s all a matter of Congress, and because extreme heat is really a bipartisan issue, I hope that Congress will see fit to help their own country raise money for this extreme heat and fire issue,” Su said.

Amending the Stafford Act to include extreme heat and fire smoke would open new avenues for short-term and long-term funding, the petition said. For example, short-term funding could provide temporary cooling centers, water stations and clean air centers that could be placed in urban cores or areas where workers suffer disproportionately from extreme heat or smoke.

But FEMA funding can also help with long-term mitigation projects that not only help respond to disasters, but also prepare for them. These include permanent community resilience centers, air conditioning and filtration upgrades in public schools, or improved energy systems through rooftop solar and micro-grids, which will also help people afford the electricity needed for cooling and filtration, Su said.

“This is a more innovative and proactive emergency management method that is unusual, as an institution,” he said. “But just because you’re not used to it, doesn’t mean you don’t have the authority to do it and you shouldn’t.”

Su added that the broad statutory language of the Stafford Act has allowed for such a response, as evidenced by actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Officially revising the language of the act will require FEMA to open the rulemaking process, which can be bolstered by experts who help outline and establish clear thresholds and qualifications for high temperature and particulate material wildfire smoke.

The petition will gain support from state and local leaders, he said.

Some have pushed FEMA to make changes through the bipartisan Extreme Heat Emergencies Act, which also calls for the agency to add extreme heat to its list of major disaster qualifying events. Introduced by Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego last year, the act has been approved by officials in several states including Nevada, Texas and California.

However, Humble noted that many of these issues do not exist in a vacuum, and cities and states are also responsible for preparing for and responding to crises. In Phoenix, as in California, housing shortages, homelessness and other challenges are also exposing more people to heat and smoke, he said.

“The job of preventing these heat-related deaths is really state and local, but if we’re going to have FEMA — and if FEMA is going to have disaster response — it really has to include extreme heat emergencies,” he said.