A coalition of 14 attorneys general, including Arizona’s Kris Mayes, are supporting a petition for FEMA to make disaster assistance available to communities affected by extreme heat and wildfire smoke.
The petition also seeks to clarify that wildfire smoke events would be eligible for federal fire management assistance funding.
Last month, multiple organizations including the Arizona Public Health Association and Center for Biological Diversity sent the request to FEMA to make those changes.
In a letter to FEMA on Tuesday, the AGs argue the Stafford Act would include extreme heat and smoke from wildfires as being major disasters, but that FEMA has never issued a declaration for such events.
They argued wildfire intensity has increased in recent decades due to climate change and that heat has caused thousands of deaths nationwide. And because of climate change, these events will only get worse.
