Temperatures Across the Country Are Rising, and Heat Officers Might Be Able To Help

Jacob Fulton, USA Today | 9/8/22

For most of his career, David Hondula worked as a professor and environmental science researcher at Arizona State University studying the impact of the changing climate.

Now, he is on the front lines for Phoenix putting what he knows into practice.

Nearly a year ago, Hondula was hired by the city to become its first director of heat response and mitigation. His job: To steer the city’s efforts to address the impact of increasingly extreme heat on the sprawling desert metropolis.

One of just a handful of heat directors in cities across the country, Hondula is part of a growing movement by municipal governments confronting head-on the risks presented by rising temperatures.

Hondula came on board just months after Florida’s Miami-Dade County became the first municipality in the nation to hire a heat officer. Earlier this year, Los Angeles followed suit, becoming the third city to create such a position.

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