PHOENIX — After last year's record-breaking temperatures and a record number of deaths from heat in Maricopa County, Phoenix's top leaders are changing how they respond to this year’s heat season.
The City of Phoenix completed an "after action report" that evaluated its emergency response to last season’s heat season.
The seven-page report reviewed several programs including the We’re Cool Heat Relief Outreach Program, the use of a transit bus for cooling, and the emergency management response.
Staffing was an issue for outreach events to provide heat relief supplies to those experiencing homelessness. The report cited, “It became difficult to identify the number of volunteers needed for each location,” it stated.
Officials recommended that staffing will need to become a function of operations and will need a pool of volunteers to assist. Along with staffing, keeping stock of cooling supplies at the cooling centers and the cooling bus were one of the biggest challenges for Phoenix.
“Pickup and delivery of ice and water were also noted as being an issue and often found to be unreliable,” the report stated.
In mid-July, city officials used a Valley Metro bus as a cooling option near downtown Phoenix, but the report states that this was not the best option because it put a strain on the transit system. For this year, the city will consider a private alternative, like a charter bus to accommodate.
Phoenix has also initiated its emergency management response team already this heat season to better collaborate with other city departments.
The report stated this will help them for their 2024 season, “Implementation of an Incident Management Team (IMT) will effectively provide a command-and-control element to coordinate and manage the collective resources and personnel the City of Phoenix is committing to this effort. The deployment of resources and personnel is continually based on credible and reliable intelligence to drive the decision-making model for deployment of resources and personnel in theater.”
