Authorities have again pleaded with people not to leave children in parked cars, with new figures showing parents and carers continue to put kids at risk of heat-related injury or death.
A month after revealing paramedics were called to 17 cases in the Sunbury area in the year to August 31, Ambulance Victoria last week said there were 225 callouts statewide in December – up from 161 the year before. Sunbury CFA duty officer Rick Flood said that while he was unaware of any local incidents in the past few weeks, calls to rescue children in parked or locked cars were far too common.
‘‘Unfortunately, it’s a fairly regular occurrence, though often by the time we arrive the car has gone,’’ he said.
Mr Flood said shopping centres continued to be hotspots.
‘‘Typically, the call comes from another shopper who has pulled up and seen a child or two unattended in the back seat,’’ he said.
‘‘Sometimes, it’s a case of parents accidentally locking the keys inside the car with a kid, so we arrive and there’s also a distressed mother.’’
Ambulance Victoria emergency management director Paul Holman said it was never a good idea to leave children in a parked car, even for a short time.
‘‘Young children can’t regulate their body temperature like we can,’’ he said. ‘‘That puts them at significant risk and being left in a car can quickly become life threatening.’’
Tests have found that the temperature inside a car can be 20 to 30 degrees hotter than outside.
Temperatures inside a car on a 29 degree day can reach 44 degrees within 10 minutes and 60 degrees within 20 minutes.
Last February, the Kyneton community rallied behind a local family after their 22-month-old boy was found dead in a parked car.
