DHS, FEMA organizing extreme heat summit

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will hold a virtual summit on extreme heat preparedness Monday, DHS announced Thursday.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell will host local community leaders, who are set to offer pointers on extreme heat resilience strategies.

“As extreme heat, worsened by the climate crisis, threatens the lives, safety, and security of communities everywhere, the Biden-Harris Administration is working across all levels of government to ensure communities have resources to protect the public and our nation’s critical infrastructure,” Mayorkas said in a statement. 

“There are sensible, constructive measures that communities can take to mitigate the impacts of extreme heat,” Mayorkas added. “By sharing information, planning ahead with concrete steps, understanding available federal resources, and working together to help the most vulnerable people in their communities, Americans can prepare, adapt, and respond to these weather-related threats to the health, safety, and security of our communities.” 

Mayorkas’s announcement comes as numerous parts of the U.S. have seen unprecedented heat and as the record for hottest recorded day in Earth’s history was broken at least twice in July. In late July, 60 percent of the U.S. was under either a heat advisory or flood watch or warning. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that extreme heat kills around 700 people a year in the U.S., and the number is even higher in Europe, where residents are far less likely to have air conditioning. One study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, estimated that extreme heat-related illnesses killed more than 60,000 people in Europe last year. 

In addition to dangers to human health, extreme heat can cause major risks to infrastructure in the form of buckling roads,  damage to electrical grids or creating conditions that make forest fires more likely.