Ambulance staff disappointed eight kids were locked in cars on scorching summer day
Paramedics have revealed that eight children were locked in hot cars in Melbourne yesterday as temperatures reached a staggering 40C.
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Paramedics have expressed their disappointment after receiving eight reports of children being locked in hot cars during a scorching 40-degree day in Melbourne yesterday.
Temperatures soared to 39.7C in Melbourne’s CBD and 40C in the city’s southeast, with a total fire ban issued and residents urged to take safety precautions against the heat.
Despite the warnings, Ambulance Victoria said it received eight different reports that children were left in hot vehicles. Six reports came from metropolitan areas and two from regional areas.
In one incident in Melbourne’s southeast, a preschool-aged child was treated by paramedics after she was left in a car with another young child who was in primary school.
The incident occurred at about 4.30pm in Narre Warren, where the temperature yesterday reached 40C.
The young girl did not need to be hospitalised after she received treatment from paramedics.
Ambulance Victoria issued a warning to the public not to leave children or pets in cars on hot days. Even airconditioned cars heat up quickly, tests conducted by Melbourne’s Metropolitan Ambulance Service show.
A car tested “on a 29C day with the car’s airconditioning having cooled the interior to a comfortable 20C showed it took just 10 minutes for the temperature to more than double to 44C”, according to RSPCA Victoria. The same tests showed that in a further 10 minutes the temperature jumped a to 60.2C.
Melbourne is predicted to be cooler today, but a searing 43C is forecast for Friday.
Originally published as Ambulance staff disappointed eight kids were locked in cars on scorching summer day