LOS ANGELES — Just two months before California would face its most severe heat wave of the year, Marta Segura was named Los Angeles’ inaugural chief heat officer and given the monumental task of improving the city’s preparation and response to the growing threat of extreme temperatures.
The move was a historic one — only two other U.S. cities, Miami and Phoenix, have officials who are devoted to the crisis of rising temperatures. Already, officials say, Segura has championed better coordination, communication and urgency surrounding the city’s heat policies and resources.
But Segura acknowledges the improvements are only initial steps toward the profound changes necessary to mitigate the effects of dangerous heat events, which have only become more frequent and more lethal in recent years because of climate change.
