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STORY: Arta Brench is an unhoused person in Phoenix, Arizona, one of many struggling with relentless heatwaves in the American Southwest.

He carries a bed sheet with him, but he says this isn’t necessarily for sleeping or for shade.

[Arta Brench, Unhoused person]

"This is every once in a while, but I decided to get a sheet and drench it with water and cover myself with it because it was just too hot.”

Many parts of the U.S. are seeing heatwaves that are set to break records.

For the unhoused, the hot weather is even more challenging.

In Phoenix, it is particularly difficult - for two straight weeks the city has seen the mercury shoot to at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Kevin Hendershot has been on and off the streets for 25 years. Even after about a decade of that in Arizona, he says the heat there is like nothing else.

[Kevin Hendershot, Unhoused person]

"I'm not used to the Arizona heat. I've been here for 12 years and I haven't seen nothing like it - it's hot."

"I fell asleep on some hot concrete and my whole left side got third degree burns on them. You know, so that's an eye opener."

On this day, Hendershot was getting a checkup at a mobile medical van from Circle the City, an outreach program that provides unhoused people with access to medical care.

Mark Bueno is its medical director.

[Mark Bueno, Outreach medical director, Circle the City]

"We have about a thousand, just a little under a thousand people living in this area that wouldn't otherwise see a doctor, wouldn't otherwise get medical care unless it's inside of a hospital. So in order, you know, the ability for me to see them means a lot to me."

Bueno says the mobile clinic is seeing a lot of burns similar to Hendershot’s, as well as severe dehydration.

He expects the situation to get worse as parts of the Southwest brace for more hot weather.

Forecasts predict Phoenix will next week break a 1974 record of 18 straight days at over 110 degrees Fahrenheit.