A day with America’s only dedicated heat team in the US’s hottest city

The pioneering team was created last year amid pressure from activists, faith groups and experts to make Phoenix, Arizona, more livable

Phoenix is America's hottest city, and it's getting hotter. The global climate crisis and decades of sprawling urban growth has turned this desert city into a hazardous heat island with dwindling water supplies and inadequate shade.

An assortment of programs to cool down Phoenix and help people survive the heat have not been working: in Maricopa county, which includes Phoenix, record high temperatures contributed to at least 662 deaths between 2020 and 2021, while thousands more people needed emergency medical treatment.