Phoenix firefighters responded to 1,744 heat-related calls from May through August 2026, more than one additional call per day on average compared with 2025, department officials told a City Council public safety subcommittee. About 14% of the patients were critically ill with heat stroke. Officials said the past three years have brought particularly high numbers of heat emergencies as extreme temperatures arrive earlier and persist longer. The National Weather Service issued 47 excessive heat warnings in 2026. The first, on March 19, was the earliest on record, and Phoenix recorded 39 days above 110 degrees during the summer. Heat also drove rescues on Phoenix’s mountain trails. By the end of August, firefighters had rescued 98 people, including 14 who required a hoist to reach safety. The department’s hoist helicopter was out of service for much of the summer, and 60% of those rescued were Arizona residents. Assistant Chief Justin Alexander said repeated calls during the same shift strained crews. The department rotated units and brought in firefighters from elsewhere in the Valley to avoid repeatedly sending the same personnel on rescues. Phoenix Fire has also expanded a field treatment intended to prevent heat-stroke deaths. Introduced in 2024, the cold-water immersion system uses a bag and ice to cool patients before they reach the hospital. Crews now use it about three times a day during summer, lowering patients’ average body temperature by five to six degrees during transport, officials said. Phoenix Fire Captain Todd Keller has defined heat stroke as a body temperature of at least 104 degrees accompanied by an altered level of consciousness. He described the ice-and-bag approach as a straightforward treatment that can save lives. Council member Ann O’Brien said some trail emergencies may be preventable when hikers go out in dangerous heat without enough water or fail to turn back in time. Heat-related calls and rescues add to the demands on emergency crews as Phoenix’s dangerous-heat season begins earlier in the year.