Residents contend that these toxic chemical fire residues are what are making them ill. They want these chemicals removed or neutralized, and they want a clinic staffed with doctors who are trained in diagnosing and treating chemical injuries because regular doctors lack the training to do this.

In 1993, a study showed there was a "statistically significant" increase in the death rate in the area in the months after the August 1992 toxic fire. The annual death count in 1992 for the affected census tract was 45. In 1993, it was 57. In 1994, it was 51. In 1995, it rose again to 58, then SOARED to 73 in 1996! Meanwhile, the overall population of the census tract has declined by 10%.

To examine the information about the death rate in Census Tract 1160, but to use census tracts that were not exposed to the smoke from the fire, DWA gathered the mortality information for three census tracts that were outside of the smoke plume, all the way back to 1982. These are Census Tracts 1158, 1164, and 1165. Census Tract 1158 is bordered by Broadway, Southern, 7th Street, and 7th Avenue. Census Tract 1164 is bordered by Baseline, Southern, 7th Street and 16th Street. Census Tract 1165 is bordered by Southern, Baseline, 7th Street, and 7th Avenue. (The control homes used by EPA in its recent round of sampling were from this area.) Census Tract 1160 is bordered by Southern, Broadway, 16th Street, and 24th Street.

Governor Hull did have time to personally meet with some people from the New River community about a controversy regarding a shed of explosives, but seems to not have the time for the people in South Phoenix, who have survived a full-blown chemical disaster. If Jane D. Hull won't respond to this South Phoenix disaster, what will she respond to?

Using the exact same format and methods used in the original mortality studies, but using the correct math, DWA found that the death rate in these three census tracts that were outside of the smoke plume did not change too much in the last fifteen years. The death rate in census tract 1160, however, did change, remarkably, after both fires. (The graph of this information is here for you to see.) Meanwhile, the overall population of census tract 1160 has been declining by about 10% since the date of the fire.

The number of deaths per year per census tract averaged over 16 years (1982-1997) is also plotted out on the graph. In general, the number of deaths per year in a census tract will flunctuate from year to year, and looking at the average annual number of deaths will perhaps help visually in determining if there is something unusual happening. (All census tracts do not have the same numbers of residents.) The average annual deaths for census tract 1158 is 38.9, and the largest margin away from this is about 11 or 12 deaths. The average annual deaths for census tract 1164 is 22.1 deaths, and the largest margin away from this is about 8 deaths. The average annual deaths for census tract 1165 is 30.3 deaths, and the largest margin away from this is about 12 deaths. But the average for census tract 1160 is 47.1, and the largest margin away from this is about 26 deaths. If we look at the number of deaths in census tract 1160 from the time of the fire in 1992 to 1997, the average annual deaths is 54.5 deaths. So it looks like census tract 1160 has a very different pattern of deaths than the other, unaffected census tracts, especially after the fire