July 5, 2024 - WASHINGTON – This week, Representative Josh Harder (CA-9) is calling on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to use all available resources to respond to the threats of extreme heat and wildfire smoke.

 “Extreme heat and wildfire smoke keep getting worse year after year, and it’s time FEMA and other federal agencies start taking this seriously,” said Rep. Harder. “We’ve seen day after day of triple-digit temperatures, and it seems like there’s a new wildfire every few hours. If disaster strikes, the federal government needs to step in to help our families stay safe and rebuild.”

In the letter, Rep. Harder outlines specific changes to FEMA programs to better mitigate the risks and help families recover from the damages of extreme heat and wildfire smoke. Specifically, he lays out changes to existing programs, including:

• Public Assistance should be available to cover the cost of emergency actions including the cost of cooling centers, food, water, masks and air purification equipment and medical care. 
• Individual Assistance should be available for extreme heat and wildfire smoke emergencies through existing avenues:
  • The Other Needs Assistance program to cover housing costs and other expenses, the Individuals and Households Programto cover the costs of AC units and fans, and the Home Repair Assistance and Personal Property Assistance program to cover costs associated with repairing and replacing ventilation systems, AC units, and fans.
• Building Resilient Infrastructure in Communities should also be used to cover planning and project costs, including cooling centers and long-term building projects that mitigate extreme heat.

Read the full letter below:

July 1, 2024

Dear Administrator Criswell,

Thank you for your commitment to working with and protecting all communities, especially our most vulnerable communities, before, during, and after disaster strikes. We acknowledge all you are doing to make the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) more responsive to communities’ evolving needs in the face of the climate crisis. Specifically, we appreciate your testimony before Congress last year, where you stated that “if the response to an extreme heat incident exceeds the capacity of a state and local jurisdiction, they are very open to submit a disaster declaration request.” Building on these efforts, we request that you utilize all of your available resources to respond to the threats of extreme heat and wildfire smoke facing our communities.

As you know, extreme heat is an increasingly serious problem across the country. Heat is the leading weather related killer in the United States. One stark example of this was the Pacific Northwest Heat Dome in the summer of 2021, where areas such as Portland recorded temperatures 42°F above average, resulting in hundreds of deaths across the region. In 2023, according to a study from Texas A&M, heat was responsible for an estimated 11,000 deaths in the U.S. alone. Specifically, the Southwest and Western United States had the highest number of heat-related deaths: New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Nevada and Colorado each recorded more heat-related deaths last year than any of the past 40 years.

Extreme heat is also a growing environmental justice issue. Across the country, areas with higher rates of poverty experience temperatures as much as 7°F warmer during the summer months when compared with wealthier neighborhoods. One shocking study from the California Institute of Technology last year showed a 36°F difference in average temperatures between poor and affluent areas of Los Angeles. Homes in low income areas also tend to be less energy-efficient, making them more expensive to cool, and less likely to have access to air conditioning. As such, people living in low-income neighborhoods are at a higher risk of experiencing heat-related illnesses or death. Studies also show that historically redlined neighborhoods are on average at least 5°F hotter than non-redlined neighborhoods, with some as much as 13°F hotter. In particular, majority Latino neighborhoods are on average 3-5°F hotter and historically Black neighborhoods are on average 10°F hotter than white neighborhoods. These neighborhoods also tend to be higher density, filled with heat-trapping pavement or other building materials, and suffer from lack of access to parks or green space, shade or tree cover, and air conditioning.

Relatedly, wildfire seasons are starting earlier and ending later. Wildfire events are intensifying—in terms of acres burned, duration and intensity—and expose affected communities to a mixture of hazardous air pollutants through wildfire smoke, such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide, ozone, aromatic hydrocarbons, and lead. Particulate matter, especially PM2.5, is the main pollutant of concern from wildfire smoke because these particles are small enough to get deep into the lungs and can even pass directly into the bloodstream. Intake of this particulate matter pollution is associated with a wide range of adverse health outcomes, including asthma, decreased lung function, increased respiratory symptoms, irregular heartbeats, increased risks of heart attacks, and premature death in people with heart and lung disease. Accounting for these effects, the National Bureau of Economic Research estimated that wildfire smoke exposure contributes to nearly 16,000 deaths per year, and could increase to almost 30,000 deaths per year by 2050 due to climate change.

Despite these risks, there has never been a Stafford Act major disaster declaration for extreme heat or wildfire smoke. Moreover, FEMA has denied requests for extreme heat and related declarations as recently as 2022, finding that the damage from these events “was not of such severity and magnitude” to warrant a major disaster declaration. FEMA also reported to the Congressional Research Service that “FEMA precedent is to evaluate discrete events and impacts, not seasonal or general atmospheric conditions.”

As extreme heat and wildfire smoke continue to plague our communities, we urge you to reconsider this stance. Specifically, we urge that you consider ongoing or anticipated public health impacts alongside FEMA’s more conventional parameters, such as the costs of damage done to physical infrastructure, when considering a disaster declaration. We also urge you to issue guidance explicitly related to extreme heat and wildfire smoke and publish this guidance in FEMA’s forthcoming revision to the Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide as soon as possible. Additionally, we ask you to update FEMA’s benefit cost analysis tool to capture the benefits of projects that primarily mitigate the impact of heat and wildfire smoke moving forward.

Furthermore, we request that you consider utilizing the following FEMA programs to address extreme heat and wildfire smoke, subject to agency discretion:

• Public Assistance: This program should be used to cover assistance for emergency actions including reimbursing eligible applicants for the cost of cooling centers and risk communication, as well as food, water, masks and air purification equipment and medical care. This assistance should be made available after disaster declarations specific to extreme heat as well as disasters that co-occur with instances of extreme heat or wildfires, including wildfire smoke.
• Individual Assistance: This program should be used to help cover housing and other needs of disaster survivors through Other Needs Assistance; reimburse the costs associated with purchasing air conditioning (AC) units and fans to assist in recovery through the Individuals and Households Program; and, cover costs associated with repairing and replacing ventilation systems, AC units, and fans through Home Repair Assistance and Personal Property Assistance. Ventilation and AC systems, fans, and cooling technologies are necessary for the habitability of homes, especially in hot climates.
• Hazard Mitigation Grant Program: Using recently released guidance from FEMA on how this program can be used for mitigation planning and projects, this program should be utilized to the greatest extent possible to address the risks of extreme heat.
• Building Resilient Infrastructure in Communities: Similarly, this program should also be used to cover planning and project costs, including cooling centers and long-term building projects that mitigate extreme heat.
• Emergency Management Performance Grant Program: As you recently noted in the Fiscal Year 2024 Notice of Funding Opportunities, this program should be used to address the evolving threat of climate change, including by preparing emergency managers for extreme heat, as well as wildfire smoke.

We appreciate your partnership on this emerging threat to the safety and wellbeing of communities across the United States. We look forward to working with you to ensure FEMA is using all appropriate and available resources to address the impacts of extreme heat and wildfire smoke.

Sincerely,
Source: Congressman Josh Harder