2-year-old girl left in hot vehicle dies in 111-degree heat, Arizona police say
A child died after being left inside a hot vehicle amid a scorching heat wave, Arizona police reported.
Officers and firefighters responded after the child was found unresponsive in the vehicle around 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 9, the Marana Police Department said in a news release.
The 2-year-old girl later died at a hospital, police told KNXV.
The girl’s father told officers he left the girl inside the vehicle with the air conditioner running for 30 minutes to an hour while he went inside his home after running errands, police told KSAZ.
When he came back out, the vehicle had stopped running and the girl was unresponsive in her child seat, police told the station. The girl’s mother was out running errands.
The temperature at Pinal Airpark near Marana hit 111 degrees at 4 p.m., the National Weather Service reported.
Investigators are still working to determine why the father left the girl inside the vehicle, police told KNXV.
Marana is about 90 miles southeast of Phoenix.
What to know about hot car deaths
More than 950 children have died in hot cars since 1998, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“About 40 children a year die from heatstroke, either because they were left or became trapped in a car,” officials said. “That’s about one child every 10 days killed in a hot car.”
Hot car deaths are most common in the summer, but they can happen at any time, according to the administration. The first “vehicular heatstroke” of the year typically happens in March.
“Leaving a window open is not enough - temperatures inside the car can rise almost 20 degrees Fahrenheit within the first 10 minutes, even with a window cracked open,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
If you see a child alone in a vehicle, officials said you should make sure the child is responsive and if not, immediately call 911.
This story was originally published July 10, 2024 at 9:49 AM with the headline "2-year-old girl left in hot vehicle dies in 111-degree heat, Arizona police say."