MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Before May 19, it had been over a year since the last hot car death in Shelby County.
The tragedy near Education is the Key Children's Center was heartbreaking and we haven't even gotten to the hottest part of the year, despite reaching 90° at least seven days so far.
We hear it every year: don't leave your pets and your children in the car. Unfortunately, this isn't the first hot car death in the U.S. this year.
There was also one in Atlanta when the temperatures were below 90°.
So, how hot does it get inside of a car?
We left a thermometer in a car when temperatures were 94° outside. In 30 minutes, the inside of the car went from 84° to 121.
Hunter Smith with the Memphis Fire Department said, "Children can get very hot right? They are in these car seats, or these safety seats and they can't move. We can say hey, I'm getting warm, I can kind of move and get air around me that will cool me off from that hot temperature, whereas children don't have that ability. Their opportunity for their temperature to go up is almost threefold of that as an adult because they don't have those contemporary mechanisms to help them fight off that heat."
The closer we get to summer, the hotter the temperatures are going to get.
Most hot car deaths are accidental, so the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration encourages parents to park, look and lock, a practice that the Memphis Fire Department agrees with.
"It hits really close to home when that happens here in Memphis and Shelby County," Smith said. "Anything that is that simple and really preventable, we want to try to stay ahead of it and make sure that people are educated."
Some parents leave their keys or their phone in the backseat as an easy reminder.
Do what works best for you to keep your children safe.