Editorial: Heat waves are disasters. Why don’t they get federal disaster relief?

When communities are hit by hurricanes, floods and wildfires they can often count on receiving federal disaster relief to help respond to the unfolding crisis and recover from its effects. It would amend the Stafford Act, the law that governs federal disaster relief, to include extreme heat along with 16 other types of major disasters spelled out in the law, including hurricanes, fires, landslides, drought, and high water. Changing the law is necessary because the Federal Emergency Management Agency has shown little interest in using its disaster relief authority for heat waves. Nothing in the law precludes an emergency or disaster declaration for extreme heat, according to the agency, but FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell has also suggested it is restricted by the law, telling the Washington Post that “we don’t necessarily have the authorities right now within the Stafford Act.” Though applications for heat emergency relief may be harder to visualize than the rebuilding that happens after fires or hurricanes, there are many ways heat-stricken communities could benefit from federal assistance. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, who months earlier called for adding extreme heat to FEMA’s list of major disasters, said in an interview this week that communities across the country could use federal relief dollars to repair and strengthen power generation and backup power systems as protection against blackouts, open more cooling centers and offer financial help to people struggling to cool their homes.