Tips for protecting your children from hot vehicles

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KEYC) – Unfortunately, Mother Nature isn’t turning down the heat yet.

As temperatures will be extremely high again in the next few days, it is important to pay attention to the safety of hot cars and children.

As a parent, you know what it can be like in the morning: you’re running around, getting ready for work, getting the kids ready for school – for daycare, packing lunches, getting the backpacks ready, filling the diaper bags – the whole program.

And on these hot days, with all the hustle and bustle, it can happen that you forget your valuable cargo in the back seat.

Davenport Fire Department District Fire Chief Nate Wilson has some tips to help prevent this from happening.

“Fortunately, new cars have some safety features that remind you to check the back seats,” Wilson said. “I’ve also read that you can leave important items in the back seat, like your cell phone with your child. Some people leave a shoe in the back seat with their child, so when you get to work and you put your shoes on or get your cell phone or purse, you have to get them from the same area where your child is sitting.”

According to experts, a child’s body temperature can rise up to five times faster than that of an adult, so it’s important to never leave a child unattended in a car for long periods of time.

Rolling down the windows or parking in the shade makes little difference to the interior temperature of the vehicle.

In 2023, 29 children died of heat stroke in vehicles.

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