From New York Times, I'm Michael Bavaro. This is a day of war.

As a historic heat wave grips much of the world and the United States,

no city has become more emblematic of the crisis than Phoenix, Arizona.

Never in the city's history has it been this hot for this long.

Where temperatures have exceeded 110 degrees Fahrenheit for the past three weeks.

It's like you open up the door and it's what it feels like.

As long as I stay under this tree, I'm okay.

When the sun goes down, we're out walking and going to the park,

so I guess we have to be vampires in this kind of weather.

Today, a conversation with Phoenix's chief heat officer about how the city

is adjusting to the new reality of chronic extreme heat

and whether we're adapting to it fast enough.

It's Thursday, July 20th.

Hey, Dave.

How are you doing?

Good. Good. Good. Good. Thank you for making time for us.

We really appreciate it.

Absolutely. And I know we've got a coordination meeting here at two

our times, so we'll get as far as we can for as much of that time as possible.

Courages. Okay. So Dave, can you just introduce yourself for our listeners?

Absolutely. My name is Dave Hondula. I'm the director of heat response and mitigation

for the city of Phoenix. We're so proud in Phoenix to have the country's

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