A desperate Texas father smashed the windscreen of his car to rescue his baby who became trapped inside as temperatures climbed to 100F (37.7C).
According to USA Today, at least 14 children have already been killed because they were left in hot cars this year. That brings the total number of deaths to 1,000 over the past three decades.
It’s hot out there, especially in Texas as temperatures have been trending well into the triple digits over the last couple of weeks. So when a South Texas family accidentally locked the keys in the car, along with their baby, several bystanders went into action to help get him out, Fox News reports.
Footage from one of the individuals at the scene shows a man smashing the windshield with some sort of instrument, before another man then takes his place and starts bashing. After making a hole, the man reaches in through the windshield area. The footage then jumps a bit after someone – reportedly a woman – went into the car to retrieve the baby. After that, you can see the child crying as they’re lifted through the windshield into the arms of the second man.
The whole situation reportedly took place in the parking lot of an H-E-B grocery store in Harlingen, Texas. The heat index the day this happened was over 100 degrees, according to the news outlet. It was likely even hotter in that parking lot.
Right now, Fox reports that we don’t know how long the child was in there before they were rescued, but according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it takes as little as 10 minutes for a car to heat up by 20 degrees. At any rate, it was very hot in that little crossover. To make matters even more dire for those involved, Fox points out that children’s body temperature actually rise three to five times faster than adults.
The parents accidentally locked their keys within the vehicle as their child sat inside.
The father tried to smash his way into the car with a tire wrench and then another man turned up with a pole to complete the job, enabling a woman to climb in and rescue the baby, passing the child through the shattered windscreen.
With the heatwave showing no sign of abating, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a warning about the risk of heatstroke.
According to the agency, more than 950 children have died of heatstroke after being left in a car over the past 25 years, including 33 last year and at least 14 in 2023.
It warned that a child’s body temperature rises up to five times faster than an adult’s.
Heatstroke begins when core body temperature reaches 104F, and a child can die when it reaches 107F.
It also warned that rolling down the windows or parking in the shade makes little difference.
Heat alert for 47 million people
The dramatic rescue in Harlingen was the latest illustration of the scorching heat sweeping across the southern US.
The moment the baby is pulled from the car through the windscreen
Already more than 47 million people are under a heat alert with warnings covering parts of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Florida.
At least 18 people are known to have died, and it is feared the total could be considerably higher, with another 69 fatalities being investigated.
The record-breaking heatwave has seen Tucson, Arizona endure temperatures at or above 100F for 38 consecutive days.
Miami has exceeded 100F for 37 consecutive days and 106F for 13 straight days.
There appears to be no end in sight, with the scorching weather spreading into the Midwest and towards the east coast.