Child a day rescued from locked cars in summer heat

NSW parents are leaving their children locked inside baking-hot cars at a shocking rate of more than one every day so far this year, inadvertently putting their lives at risk while exposing them to scorching temperatures of almost 80C.

• Child locked in car at Neutral Bay
• Toddler locked in car in 35C heat in Merrylands

EXCLUSIVE: NSW parents are leaving their children locked inside baking-hot cars at a shocking rate of more than one every day so far this year, inadvertently putting their lives at risk while exposing them to scorching temperatures of almost 80C.

There have been 17 NSW Ambulance call-outs to a total of 19 children locked in cars between January 1 and January 17 — four times more than for the same period last year.

Inspector Brian Parsell says no parents locks their child in the car deliberately, but many are inattentive. Picture: istock

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Twice this month, ambulance crews have been called to three separate cases in 24 hours where babies and toddlers had been accidentally locked in their family cars, narrowly escaping death when someone smashed a window or broke in.

How hot it got.

NSW Ambulance Inspector Brian Parsell has seen children die and many more nearly perish from being left in cars during summer.

“It’s parent inattention that’s the main cause … no parent deliberately wants to lock their child in the car,” he said.

He has conducted studies which show temperatures inside cars can reach 50C in a few minutes and 78C in an hour during the height of the Australian summer.

And new cars are only making the situation more lethal.

“Modern vehicles are completely airtight. When they’re locked there is no circulating air,” Insp Parsell said.

“Children can’t thermoregulate as well as adults, so their body temperatures will just climb and climb and climb until they fall unconscious, and that can be fatal.

“The message is simple: just don’t do it.”

Leaving the children in a car to go shopping and giving them the keys to play with were also critical mistakes many parents were still making.

“The parents give the kids the keys as a form of entertainment. The child locks the vehicle and doesn’t have the cognitive ability to open it,” Insp Parsell said.

An 18-month-old baby spent 20 minutes locked in a car at Sydney Olympic Park on January 11, when outside temperatures hit the mid-30Cs.

Audio of emergency calls for kids locked in cars

The next day, a window had to be smashed to get a baby out of a car at North Wollongong, as the mercury outside soared to the high-30s.

Cars do not have to be locked for babies to suffer serious illness in the heat.

A towel is used to keep a child cool in a car as a policeman smashes the front windscreen to rescue them.

Two six-week-old twins ­suffered heat exhaustion on Thursday while being driven along the M1 motorway north of Sydney in a car without any airconditioning.

Paramedics are also hugely concerned about the elderly during a heatwave.

Police talk to a member of the public after a child is locked in a car.

A 75-year-old man fell ill when his daughter locked him in a car at Penrith on January 2, and a 70-year-old woman became stuck in her car inside her garage for two hours on New Year’s Day.

A three-year-old girl died on Christmas Eve in 2016 when she wandered out to her parents’ car outside their Glenwood home and jumped in the back seat.

A Western Sydney Local Health District spokesperson said that in the past 72 hours, the district’s four emergency departments have treated 11 patients with symptoms related to hot conditions.

These symptoms can include dehydration or fainting, dizziness, tiredness, irritability, thirst, fainting, muscle pains or cramps, headache, changes in skin colour, rapid pulse, shallow breathing, vomiting and confusion.

The spokesperson warned that it’s important for people to get to a cool place quickly and rehydrate if symptoms occur.

People showing severe signs of heat-related illness should seek urgent medical attention, in an emergency situation call triple-0.

Police smash the window of a car to rescue a child.