Did You Know

You might be surprised to hear that a child can die from heat stroke on a 72-degree day. There’s a medical reason why this happens to children - their bodies aren’t the same as adults. A child’s body can heat up five times faster than an adult’s.

Now think of how your car usually feels warmer inside than out. Did you know that even on a mild day, the temperature inside a car can rise 20 degrees in just 10 minutes? On an 80-degree day, the inside of a closed car can quickly reach 100 degrees in the time it takes to run into the store for an errand. Heat stroke happens when the body cannot cool itself fast enough and the core temperature rises to dangerous levels.

What You Can Do

"Couldn't happen to me," you say? Of course, that's what every parent says, including those who experience it at some later date.

It could happen to to you. But these deaths are preventable – not inevitable. Take a moment to learn how to keep your kids safe with simple prevention tips.

The Numbers

Since 1998, more than 550 children across the U.S. have died from hyperthermia, when unattended in a vehicle. Sadly, more than half of these reported heat stroke deaths occurred when a distracted caregiver forgot their child was in the car or truck. Other heat stroke fatalities occurred when a child was playing in an unattended vehicle and became trapped, or when a child was intentionally left unattended by an adult "for just a few minutes." 

Latest Incidents

Read news stories about recent incidents provided by Jan Null, CCM Department of Geosciences, SFSU