11 sent to hospital for heat exhaustion outside Trump event

Eleven people were transported to a hospital due to heat exhaustion in Phoenix Thursday while waiting in line for an event featuring former President Trump.

The Hill has reached out to the Phoenix Fire Department, but officials told ABC15 they responded to the event, hosted at Dream City Church in north Phoenix, and transported 11 people to the hospital.

According to the Phoenix National Weather Service, Thursday was the first day temperatures reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit this year, and later it tied the daily record high of 111 degrees set in 2016.

The season’s first heat wave is expected to hit the region after a particularly warm summer last year.

Videos and photos shared online show several people fainting and requiring medical attention due to the heat.

“Another one being carted out on a stretcher at Trump rally … this marks at least six people from what we can likely assume is the heat,” Ben Brown, a reporter for ABC15 posted on social platform X.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

The event, sponsored by Turning Point Action, a youth-oriented conservative group, is aiming to increase voter turnout by encouraging early and mail-in voting, an idea formerly opposed by Trump.

The Arizona Republic reported that the Dream City Church event is the second time the former president has visited the place of worship.

In June 2020, Trump held an indoor event, his second public gathering since the start of the COVID-19 quarantine. The Republic reported that church officials incorrectly claimed they installed air purification systems that could kill “99.9%” of COVID-19 within 10 minutes.

It was reported that at least eight of Trump’s campaign staffers tested positive after his 2020 Tulsa, Okla., event days prior to the first Dream City Church rally.

According to recent polling, Trump leads President Biden by 3.3 percentage points in Arizona.