People rested at the Oregon Convention Center cooling station in Portland, Oregon during a record-breaking heat wave in 2021. FEMA has never responded to an extreme heat emergency, but some hope that will change. (Photo by Kathryn Elsesser / AFP via Getty Images) Kathryn Elsesser/AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption The massive heat dome that struck the Pacific Northwest in 2021 paralyzed the region.
Emergency departments were overwhelmed. Roads buckled in the heat. Hundreds of people died .
That same year, Hurricane Ida barreled into the Southeast . Buildings were flattened in Louisiana. Hundreds of thousands lost power.
At least 87 people in the U.S. died.
Both were deadly and traumatizing. But FEMA distributed billions of dollars and months of post-disaster support to states and families battered by Ida. Victims of the heat dome, on the other hand, received no federal support.
That difference stems from a longstanding convention: FEMA responds to natural disasters like hurricanes or earthquakes — disasters with major and obvious damage to physical infrastructure. But the agency has not historically responded to extreme heat. Now, a coalition of environmental nonprofits, labor unions, health professionals and environmental justice groups is asking the agency to change that.
In a petition filed Monday, the coalition asks FEMA to add extreme heat and wildfire smoke to the list of disasters to which they respond. “Hurricanes are terrible. Earthquakes are terrible.
But act.
