Two children have been dead in hot vehicles just hours apart from each other in central Florida on Friday.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said a passer-by spotted a boy, 4, alone in a locked car with the engine turned off in the parking lot of Elite Preparatory Academy. The academy is a school in Florida.
Firefighters rushed the boy to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
About two hours later, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said a 1-year-old girl was found dead inside a hot car at a Sanford gas station.
WFTV reported that investigators questioned the baby’s mother and initial indications are that the mother went to work on Friday morning and forgot the child was in the vehicle, officials said.
Police (pictured) attend the gas station where a baby girl, 1, was found dead inside a vehicle
Investigators beside the Chevrolet Traverse (pictured) where the little girl was found dead
The medical examiner took the girl’s body from the Chevrolet Traverse that was parked next to the gas pump to the transport van late Friday as deputies used sheets to shield the view from the public.
The boy, 4, was found in the parked car in South Orlando.
He was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital where he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Temperatures set records in Sanford for the third day in a row Friday with a high of 96 degrees, accrodng to the National Weather Service in Melbourne.
The previous record was 94 degrees on this date.
About two hours earlier in neighbouring Orange County, a boy of 4 was found by a bystander at 2.25 pm locked in a vehicle that was not running which was parked at Elite Preparatory Academy.
An estimated 37 children die each year as a result of being left in a hot car according to the National Safety Council.
Car manufacturers have been working on technology solutions to prevent hot car deaths. Central Florida physicians demonstrated earlier this year how dangerous hot cars are for children.
A vehicle parked in the sun for one hour reaches an average temperature of 116 degrees.
Last year a study from Arizona State University and the University of California San Diego quantifies how long it takes for cars to reach killer temperatures in either the sun or the shade.
Parents picking their children up (pictured) at the school were a boy, 4, died in a parked car
The team tested six cars, including two sedans, two economy cars and two minivans.
Left in the sun on a 100-degree day in Arizona, it took just an hour for the interior temperature to hit 116 degrees. Dashboards heated up to a stinging 157 degrees and seats hit 123 degrees in that time.
The shade wasn’t much better. Interior temperatures reached 100 degrees after one hour and seats were 105 degrees.
‘These tests replicated what might happen during a shopping trip,’ said Nancy Selover, an Arizona State University climatologist and research professor.
‘We wanted to know what the interior of each vehicle would be like after one hour, about the amount of time it would take to get groceries.
‘I knew the temperatures would be hot, but I was surprised by the surface temperatures’.