Southern Nevada Extreme Heat Summit

Council Chair Michelle Deatrick served as Keynote Speaker at Southern Nevada's first-ever Extreme Heat Summit, which was hosted by Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom and attended by more than 200 elected officials, public health experts, community leaders, and national voices to address the growing urgency of extreme heat.

In her keynote, Chair Deatrick underscored that Nevada is on the climate frontlines — and that extreme heat is now the deadliest climate impact globally, killing more people each year than hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes combined. In Clark County alone, heat claimed 527 lives in 2024 — more than traffic fatalities — a 78% surge from the prior year. And Reno and Las Vegas are the two fastest-warming cities in the United States. 

Deatrick stressed that the burden falls hardest on those least able to protect themselves: outdoor workers, the unhoused, elders, the very young, Black and Brown communities, women and girls, people with chronic conditions, and pregnant people. As she told summit attendees: extreme heat "doesn't have the visual drama of a hurricane or wildfire — it's often dismissed as just weather. But it's not just weather. It's a climate signal and a public health emergency and a warning sign that's flashing bright red." She called on attendees to build not just a heat response plan, but a heat response system — one running in April, not scrambling in August.

The Summit also marked the official launch of Southern Nevada's Transportation Resilience Improvement Plan, "Let's Go Prepared," backed by a $750,000 federal grant through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Summit was hosted by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada and community partners.

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