Maricopa County heat deaths surge past 2025’s pace as officials expand cooling resources

Maricopa County has confirmed 18 heat-related deaths this season, more than triple the five recorded at this point last year, with another 215 under investigation.

The spike threatens to reverse a two-year decline in heat fatalities.

“Those 18 deaths are, of course, preventable,” Kelli Donley Williams, deputy director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “We’re always trying to encourage people to call 211 to get into air conditioning, to be heat wise, to use the heat relief network and to use the resources that are available to them.”

The county recorded 430 heat-related deaths for all of 2025, down from 608 in 2024 and a record 645 in 2023.

Donley Williams attributed the early spike to an unusually warm spring.

“We know that the heat began earlier this year,” she said. “We are concerned that the heat continues to begin earlier and earlier every year.”

County data show that roughly half of heat-related deaths each year involve people who are homeless. The remainder are predominantly older adults on fixed incomes and outdoor workers.

“They may either have air conditioning and may not have the ability financially to turn it on,” Donley Williams said, adding that transportation barriers also keep vulnerable residents from reaching cooling centers.

More resources, same urgent message

Despite the higher death toll, more heat relief sites are open this summer than last year, and additional volunteers and community partners have joined the effort.

The county’s Heat Relief Network set up 66 cooling centers across the Valley. Residents can call 211 for a free ride to cooling centers.

“This isn’t just about you,” Donley Williams said. “It’s also about your neighbors and other individuals in your life who may be vulnerable. We can all get through this together.”

KTAR News reporter Balin Overstolz-McNair contributed to this report.

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