ANGELA Jones was on the phone with her husband Scott when he suddenly realized he had left their three-year-old daughter Charlotte in a hot car.
The terrifying – until that point – “cheeky” child was trapped inside for at least four hours, when the temperature in Arizona, USA, reached 98 F (36 C).
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Charlotte Jones died after being accidentally left in her father’s truck for four hours Credit: Fox News Digital
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Charlotte, center, was the heart of the young Jones familyCredit: Fox News Digital
It was September 2019 and Scott was driving his two oldest daughters to school before returning to his home office for a day of work.
Four hours later, Angela called to ask how Charlotte, their youngest, was doing after the couple decided not to send her to kindergarten that week.
But Scott had forgotten that Charlotte was also in the car with him that morning.
All of a sudden I could hear the panic in his voice, Angela told Fox News Digital.
Read more about hot car deaths
“At first I thought she had gone into the pool or something, and then he said, ‘Oh my God, I don’t think I ever got her out of the car’.”
After realizing his mistake, the distraught dad ran to the driveway to find his daughter burning in her car.
He called 911, but it was too late, Charlotte had already succumbed to the heat.
She was given medical attention at the scene, and was then rushed to a nearby hospital, where she later died, according to azcentral.
Tragically, little Charlotte is not the only child to die this way.
An average of 37 children die each year in the US from heat stroke after being trapped in hot vehicles – often as a result of their parents forgetting they were there.
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The number of deaths from hot cars appears to be much lower in Northern Europe than in the US.
But this is not surprising given the colder climate than in the southern US states.
9 red signs of heat stroke in your child
Heatstroke is a potentially life-threatening side effect of heat.
This happens when someone gets so hot that the body can’t control the temperature.
In children, symptoms may include:
1. To become limp and sleepy
2. Hot, flushed and dry skin
3. Headache, feeling dizzy or confused and restless
4. Rapid breathing and heartbeat
5. Attacks
6. Little or no sweating
7. Body temperature rises to 40.5C or more
8. Loss of consciousness or fainting
9. Get worse quickly and don’t react
What should you do?
- Dial 999 NOW or ask someone else
- Cool them down
- Quickly move them to a cooler environment
- Take off their outer clothes
- Wrap them in a cold, wet sheet
- Keep pouring water on them
- Keep them cool while you wait for help
- If their temperature returns to normal and they are no longer hot to the touch, you can stop cooling them
Source: NHS
Between 2007 and 2009, there were 26 cases of heat stroke in France and Belgium, including seven deaths, according to the external organization Child Safety Europe.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents cannot recall any cases in the UK.
When the human body reaches a temperature above 40C (104F), the brain and other organs are at risk of swelling and death.
Children are the most sensitive because their bodies heat up three to five times faster than adults.
“Light of our family”
Angela said Charlotte was the heart of their young family.
“She was our sassy, funny, always making funny faces, our little ham,” mom said.
“She was a light in our family and we talk about her all the time,” she added
Angela is sharing Charotte’s story in an effort to raise awareness among other parents about the dangers and risks of car heat in the summer.
“We did everything we could to protect our children and we just didn’t realize it was a danger until it happened to us,” she said.
“I just want it to resonate with other people so they can have a backup plan or do something because this is a preventable tragedy and it can be stopped by your different measures,” she added.
If you are taking a small child with you to babysit, Mom suggested that you put something in the car seat with the child that you will need later, such as a wallet or purse.
And if you’re going to be out of your normal normal routine, she recommended that a parent ask the caregiver to call them if your child hasn’t arrived at daycare on schedule.
She also said that car seats should be placed on the opposite side of the driver’s side so that they can see the child when they look back.
Charlotte was sitting right behind her father when she died.
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The 3-year-old was suspended from school that weekCredit: Fox News Digital
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Her dad, Scott, went into autopilot mode and left her in the carCredit: Fox News Digital
5 ways to never leave a child in the car
For many parents, the idea of accidentally leaving their baby in a hot car seems unfathomable.
They mean, there’s no way I’m going to forget a baby in the car!
But the reality is that nearly 25 percent of parents say they’ve — at some point while driving — completely forgotten their child under the age of 3 is in the car with them.
And sometimes those memory lapses can lead to tragedy: many child car accidents happen when a parent unknowingly leaves their child in the car.
So what can we do to prevent these grave mistakes?
- Leave a mark: Always place a diaper bag (or other baby item) on the passenger seat as a visual reminder that your baby is in the car with you
- Fast this one: provide a note on your dashboard that reads park / look / lock to remind yourself to always look for your baby before leaving the vehicle
- Opt for backseat storage: Instead of tossing the things you need to start your day (like your laptop, phone, purse, or employee badge) into the trunk of your car—or the passenger seat—store them next to your child’s car seat so you’ll always have a look before you go. Some even recommend that you always put your left shoe on the back seat.
- Have a plan for the caregiver: Ask your caregiver to call you if your child hasn’t arrived at daycare on schedule.
- Check in: if someone other than you is driving your child anywhere, check in to make sure they arrive safely.
- Keep vehicles locked: Whether in the garage or driveway, cars must remain locked at all times
- Teach a horn lesson: Teach your child to honk the car horn if they ever get stuck in a vehicle
- Keep the rear folding seats closed: this will prevent the child from getting into the boot from the car.
- Get tech support: the BackSeat Safety app reminds the driver to check the back seat when parked, using GPS. And if you use Waze, the traffic app, you can enable a setting that will remind you to check the back seat when you arrive at the destination you entered in the app
Source: Happiest Baby
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