FEMA Fails to Recognize Dangers of Heat and Smoke
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), America’s top emergency response agency, is known for aiding states and cities hit by natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes. However, FEMA’s definition of a “major disaster” is lacking two significant threats that pose risks to millions of Americans: extreme heat and wildfire smoke.
Call for Change in FEMA’s Regulations
The Center for Biological Diversity, along with 30 other environmental organizations, healthcare groups, and trade unions, began advocating for change on Monday. These groups want the Stafford Act – the law guiding FEMA’s operations – to recognize extreme heat and wildfire smoke as regular disasters. Their claim is that acknowledging these threats would unlock much-needed disaster relief funding. This funding could help communities prepare for these dangers, installing air filtration and cooling centers, and investing in resilient energy solutions like community solar storage.
The Stafford Act’s Current Classification of Disasters
At present, the Stafford Act categorizes major disasters as any natural catastrophe like hurricanes, tornadoes, storms, water and earth-related disasters, and fires, floods, and explosions regardless of their source. Climate change has driven extreme heat and unbearable wildfire smoke to increasingly endanger public health and economics, sparking a call for federal action.
Past Rejection of Heat-Related Disasters by FEMA
In 2022, FEMA rejected California’s request for major disaster recognition due to a scorching heat wave. The reason being that the agency assesses specific events and impacts and not general atmospheric conditions. However, observers noted discrepancy since the Stafford Act had been used in unforeseen emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Heat: The Silent Killer
Extreme heat has caused more deaths over the past three decades than any other natural disaster. 2023 was marked as the year with the highest count of heat-related fatalities. The heat affects children, pregnant women, the elderly, those with underlying health issues, low-income communities, communities of color, and outdoor workers particularly hard. A 2022 heatwave caused more than 600 deaths in Phoenix due to temperatures surpassing 110 degrees for over a month.
The Smoke Threat from Wildfires
Along with extreme heat, wildfire smoke can be deadly. A recent investigation connected California’s wildfires between 2008 and 2018 to approximately 55,700 premature deaths. This smoke is capable of journeying from the West Coast of the U.S. to Europe and is only expected to increase due to climate change.
Rising Costs of Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke
These dangers come with sky-high costs. The combined current and predicted losses tied to healthcare, agriculture, repairing infrastructure, and loss of productivity in the workplace range into the hundreds of billions of dollars. Groups advocating for disaster relief argue that federal support is vital in providing resources to vulnerable communities exposed to these risks.
FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund
FEMA draws most of its resources from the Disaster Relief Fund, a pot of money granted by Congress annually. Emergency groups argue that adding extreme heat and wildfire smoke to the Stafford Act’s definition of disasters would pave the way for additional funding. This extra funding could fall into two categories: short-term and long-term.
Short-term funding could support on-the-spot facilities like temporary cooling centers, water stations, and clean-air centers. On the other hand, long-term funding could help make lasting changes like upgrading public schools’ air conditioning and filtration systems and establishing permanent community resilience centers.
Advocacy groups argue that changing the Stafford Act to include extreme heat and wildfires will allow a more proactive approach towards emergency management, which the institution isn’t accustomed to.
The Need for Change
Supporters of the change pin their hopes on bipartisan action, as extreme heat affects all, regardless of political standing. They hope Congress will make the necessary appropriations to address these issues which affect states nationwide. Advocates are calling for clear thresholds and qualifications for high temperatures and wildfire smoke particulate matter in the Act. This petition is expected to win the backing of state and local leaders.
Public support for change has been seen before with the Extreme Heat Emergency Act, which also pushes FEMA towards recognizing extreme heat as a qualifying event for a major disaster. However, critics argue that states and cities must also take responsibility for keeping their residents safe from these disasters, not just relying on FEMA.
Regardless, as extreme heat and wildfire smoke continue to pose an increasing risk, many argue that FEMA should be stepping up and acknowledging these as actual disasters.