Toddler rescued from hot, locked car in Homestead

Firefighters and police officers rescued a toddler from a locked car in the gated Homestead community this morning when it was 99 degrees outside.

First responders were dispatched to a home on the 40900 block of West Jenna Lane at 9:47 a.m., according to Phoenix Regional Dispatch .

Firefighters with Ladder Tender 571 snaked a cable through the driver side door of a Ford Explorer and unlocked it. Once the car was open, firefighters and the boy’s mother pulled him out of the car safely.

“They were going to give the lockout kit probably about another 30 seconds, and then they were just going to break a window to get the kid out,” Maricopa Police Cpl. Cory Benoit told InMaricopa on the scene.

“That’s just the most important thing,” Benoit said. “You can fix a window easy but it’s kind of hard to take care of a child that goes down on heat exhaustion.”

A child’s body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult’s, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration .

NHTSA released some tips as an effort to prevent hot car deaths:

Parents and caregivers should:

• Never leave a child in a vehicle unattended for any length of time. Rolling windows down or parking in the shade does little to change the vehicle’s interior temperature.

• Make it a habit to check your entire vehicle — especially the back seat — before locking the doors and walking away.

• Ask your childcare provider to call if your child doesn’t show up for care as expected.

• Place a personal item like a purse or briefcase in the back seat, as another reminder to look before you lock. Write a note or place a stuffed animal in the passenger’s seat to remind you that a child is in the back seat.

• Store car keys out of a child’s reach and teach children that a vehicle is not a play area.

Everyone should:

• Always lock your car when you aren’t using it. Even if you don’t have a child of your own, a child in your neighborhood could get into your unlocked vehicle.

• Act immediately and call 9-1-1 if you see a child alone in a locked car. A child in distress due to heat should be removed from the vehicle as quickly as possible and rapidly cooled.

This post Toddler rescued from hot, locked car in Homestead appeared first on InMaricopa .