'Major disaster': Attorneys general urge FEMA to declare extreme heat, wildfire smoke as disasters

State leaders are warning of a "hotter, smokier future" in the United States, but will their petition for federal emergency response be recognized by the government?

Extreme heat is responsible for more weather-related deaths than tornadoes, hurricanes, floods or any other natural disaster, according to the National Weather Service but, as of now is ineligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) response.

And wildfire smoke, which even at low levels leads to substantial increases in healthcare costs, illnesses and deaths, according to the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, similarly falls outside of FEMA protection.

This week, 14 state attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Vermont sent a letter of support to update FEMA's regulations.

Leaders called on FEMA officials to "initiate a rulemaking" that would recognize extreme heat and wildfire smoke events as major disasters under the Stafford Act, the federal law that gives FEMA the power to respond to emergencies.

"The Act's definition of 'major disaster' -- 'any natural catastrophe' -- plainly encompasses extreme heat and wildfire smoke events," according to the letter dated July 16, which adds, "Extreme heat and wildfire smoke are in all respects as 'natural' as hurricanes, and their impacts are likewise catastrophic for communities across the United States."

To support their petition, leaders note that 2,300 people officially died from heat exposure nationally in 2023, which was deemed the hottest year on record.

In Arizona, extreme heat caused or contributed to more than 1,000 deaths in 2022, the AGs noted in the letter.

Not just deadly, but also costly, the group of attorneys general reference a recent study of extreme heat in California that found seven heat events contributed to approximately 460 deaths, thousands of hospitalizations and emergency department visits, and cumulatively cost $7.7 billion.

Pointing to climate change as a factor in the worsening weather events, the letter reads, "The likelihood of high-severity extreme heat and wildfire smoke events is increasing due in part to climate change," warning, "Rising average global temperatures have made extreme heat events longer, more intense, more widespread, and deadlier."

The attorneys general petition urges federal leaders that updating regulations is in the "best interest" of FEMA, state residents and the country as a whole.