Arizona attorney general calls on FEMA to recognize extreme heat, wildfire smoke as disasters

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — As an excessive heat watch takes effect on Friday in the Valley, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and 13 other attorneys general are urging the federal government to declare wildfire smoke and extreme heat major disasters.

The letter was sent to FEMA on Tuesday, and it claimed that the likelihood of high-severity extreme heat and wildfire smoke is increasing due in part to climate change.

The 14 states are asking the federal agency to update its regulations to prepare for the future, especially because Arizona is no stranger to extreme heat.

“We’re losing lives too,” said one expert.

As of Tuesday, Maricopa County confirms 23 heat-related deaths, with 322 under investigation. That’s a 150 increase from the same time last year.

In a press release, Mayes said it would help states provide resources and better protect the community from heat.

“This is a very expensive, very tragic and awful disaster that’s getting worse and worse. These are unnatural disasters that are being fueled by excess carbon monoxide and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They’re getting longer, more intense,” said Dr. Joellen Russell, a professor and climate scientist at the University of Arizona.

She says those gases are linked to climate change and are heating up the planet, which also means more intense wildfires. That is another point in the letter to FEMA.

“Wildfire smoke carries a lot of significant chemicals and it affects both asthma rates and hospitalizations, anybody with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), anybody with a compromised immune system, it’s going to put pressure on them,” she said.

Tiffany Davila with the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management said the agency is seeing more wildfires this year than last.

“We’ve had probably 100 more fire starts this year as compared to last year at this time. We’ve burned probably 20,000 more acres this year as we did last year at the same time,” she said.

Davila also doesn’t expect it to slow down.

“Now, we’re going to stay busy if we continue to see the lightning strikes across the state. The potential now with our outlook is pushing into August and September with fire activity, we could see activity well into late summer and early fall,” she said.

Arizona consistently ranks among one of the states with the worst air quality.

Experts say that’s partly because of smoke from wildfires and our heat, which is impacting the ozone.

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