Last year was Phoenix’s hottest year on record. In spite of that, fewer people died as a result of heat in Maricopa County in 2024 than in 2023, according to a new report from Maricopa County Public Health.
It’s the first time in more than a decade that the county has seen a year-over-year decrease in heat-related deaths.
“It’s not time for a victory lap,” David Hondula, director of Phoenix’s Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, told KJZZ News last fall, referring to preliminary numbers. “While we are seeing positive signs in the numbers relative to last year, we still have a long way to go to see the really significant reductions that everyone is after.”
Heat-related deaths have skyrocketed in Maricopa County in the past decade. In 2014, the county reported 61 deaths from heat. Last year the county confirmed 602 heat deaths. The dramatic rise in deaths has correlated with warming temperatures and rapid growth of the region’s homeless population.
Most of the county's heat deaths last year occurred outdoors, and 50% of heat deaths were among people experiencing homelessness. That’s a higher percentage than in 2023.
The 602 heat deaths confirmed in 2024 make last year’s death toll the second-highest on record. The county’s been recording the deaths officially since 2006.
But, Hondula said, the slight decrease from 645 in 2023 could be a sign that investments in heat relief and new strategies to protect vulnerable people from heat are beginning to make a positive impact.
“We’re again encouraged by the reversal of this trend but there’s still quite a bit of work to do as we believe all of these were preventable,” County Board of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Nick Staab said.
A major change in the city’s approach to heat relief last summer was to extend hours at three public cooling centers and to keep two other centers open overnight. The city reports those five sites had more than 35,000 visits from May through October. More than 900 visitors to the sites were referred to treatment or shelter. And heat-related emergency calls to the Phoenix Fire Department dropped 20% in 2024 compared to 2023, in spite of hotter temperatures. Only about 15% of those emergency calls came from within a mile radius of the extended-hour heat relief sites, the city reports.
Maricopa County also made new investments in heat relief in 2024. The county paid to increase the number of operators who could field heat-related questions on Arizona’s 211 helpline. The county also allotted federal funding to pay for transportation services to get people who called 211 rides to cooling centers. And the county hired its first full-time countywide cooling center coordinator.
But the bulk of the city’s and county’s budget for heat relief in 2024 was pieced together from federal pandemic relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, which will run out in 2026.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego has warned that lifesaving heat-relief programs will need a more stable source of funding in order to continue in future years.
“We cannot continue to tackle this public health emergency without increased support from our municipal neighbors, from the county, the state and federal government leaders,” Gallego told reporters in October.
Gallego said Phoenix’s homeless population has grown as temperatures have gotten hotter.
“We’re being asked to do more, but given fewer resources,” Gallego said. “This is an emergency.”
KJZZ reporter Camryn Sanchez contributed to this report.
