PHOENIX — Heat-related deaths increased by 52% in Maricopa County in 2023, according to the Maricopa County Department of Public Health.
According to the report released in April, 80% of those who died were Maricopa County residents and three-fourths were male.
MCDPH divides heat-related deaths into two categories:
- Heat-caused deaths are deaths where the heat was directly involved in the death.
- Heat-contributed deaths are deaths in which the heat was contributed but was not the sequence of events causing the deaths.
Heat-caused deaths have slowly increased since 2013 from 57% to 59% in 2023, according to the report.
Heat-related deaths by zip code:
- Phoenix: 340
- Mesa: 51
- Glendale: 35
- Scottsdale: 25
- Tempe: 24
- Avondale: 15
- Chandler: 14
- Sun City: 11
- Laveen: 9
- Peoria: 9
- Buckeye: 6
- Guadalupe: 6
- Apache: 5
- Youngtown: 5
According to MCDPH, two-thirds of heat-related deaths also included the use of a substance such as drugs or alcohol —53% of those deaths involved incidents where only drugs were used. Methamphetamine was the most common drug used — 78% — and fentanyl was involved in 46% of deaths involving drugs.
Maricopa County hired a Heat Relief Program Coordinator, whose job will be to coordinate resources and address heat relief gaps found in the report.
In addition to the new coordinator, the county has announced plans to increase the number of heat relief locations and expand their hours of operation. They will also provide staff at heat relief centers with naloxone and training.
The county also has plans to establish and staff a hotline for heat-related issues.
