Advocacy groups are petitioning Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to include extreme heat and wildfire smoke as major disasters in the same way they do for hurricanes and other major disasters and emergencies. Extreme heat is by far the most deadly kind of weather, killing on average more than twice as many people each year as hurricanes and tornadoes combined, according to data tracked by the National Weather Service. But as CNN as previously reported, FEMA’s hands are tied by congress and the Stafford Act — the federal law that gives FEMA the power to respond to emergencies and determines what qualifies as one. The petition notes that the Stafford Act can be easily amended as it was just a few years ago to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. On the other side of the country, a dangerous, long-duration heat wave is tightening its grip on the Northeast and parts of the Midwest.

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Persons: Stafford, Ella Nilsen, Rob Shackelford Organizations: Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, National Weather Service, CNN, Tribal, National Interagency Fire Center