Local paramedic discusses dangers of children in hot cars

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – If you have walked outside much over the past few weeks, you’ve noticed that it is scorching hot!

And if you have hopped in the car, the air inside may have felt like an oven.

According to Jim Williams, the field operations manager for Medical Center Emergency Medical Services, children do not regulate their body temperatures as well as adults, so they heat up three to five times faster than an adult.

WNKY tested the temperature inside of a car during the cloudy part of the day, when many people might think the temperature wouldn’t rise much.

According to our experiment, after just five minutes, the white colored vehicles interior had reached 110 degrees.

After an hour and a half, the interior was a whopping 150 degrees, according to the thermometer.

To put that into perspective, the USDA recommends steak be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees.

Williams says every year EMS is called to a scene of a child suffering from a heat related medical issue because of being in a car.

“You don’t really have a lot of time to play with and it’s a lot easier to replace a window obviously. And then once the kid is removed from that environment, cool them off in anyway possible. Poor cold water over them. Even if you’ve got a soft drink, pour that on them, anything that will start getting on their skin and helping cool them. And then call 911. EMS will come to evaluate them and treat them if needed,” said Williams.

According to Williams, if you ever see a child locked in a hot car, get them out as quickly as possible.

Williams advises leaving a shoe, phone, or other item in the back seat with your child so that you won’t make a devastating mistake and lose your child to the heat.