Data: 38 kids die in hot cars yearly; tips to prevent child heat stroke

MIAMISBURG — Data from the National Safety Council shows every year, on average, 38 children die from heat stroke after being left in a hot car.

Two kids have died that way already this year.

Temperatures have been soaring into the 90s this week in the Miami Valley. In these conditions, the temperature inside your car can become deadly quickly.

Miamisburg Police told News Center 7 they charged a mom just last for leaving her preschooler in the car alone in the parking lot while she shopped.

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Police said they were called to the Heincke Road Kroger for a Wellness check on June 5. Investigators said a 911 caller said there was a child in a running car.

The National Weather Service said the high temperature that day in the Dayton area was 83 degrees. Police said the car was on and the air-conditioning was running too.

Miamisburg Police said thankfully, the 3-year-old girl in the car was not distressed and was not hurt.

Officers said the mother of the child was inside Kroger shopping and charged her with child endangering.

Abbey Pettiford is the Injury Prevention Coordinator at Dayton Children’s and said often times children dying in hot cars is when parents forget they had their child with them.

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On a 90-degree day the temperature inside the car reaches 109 degrees in 10 minutes. In 20 minutes, the temperature is hovering near 120 degrees, while in 30 minutes – temperatures could reach 124 degrees.

Pettiford said typically deadly hot car situations happen when a parent or a caregiver who doesn’t typically drive the child to or from, they’re out of their routine.

“So usually mom drives child to daycare, but dad is doing it today. They’re kind of on autopilot in the morning and they forget to drop the child off. That is how quite a few of these situations happened,” Pettiford said.

She said another tip is to put something in the back seat that you will need to leave the car with, aside from your children, like a phone, wallet, or a backpack as an extra reminder to check the back seat for little ones before you walk away from your car.

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