Authorities warn: don’t leave children in hot cars.
As temperatures soar in the southern states to an expected top of over 40 degrees, children have been left in hot cars in four separate incidents.
In one case, three children under five were left in a car at a fast food restaurant in Geelong, southwest of Melbourne.
“I don’t know how many times we have to say: Don’t do it,” Ambulance Victoria state health commander Paul Holman told the Herald Sun.
“Small children very quickly will become dehydrated and the consequences – we’ve already seen deaths in the past.”
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has also warned people not to leave their children alone in cars even for a moment because he said it could have deadly consequences.
Leaving children unattended in cars is illegal, with a financial penalty in Victoria of $2214 or three months jail.
Authorities are encouraging the community to remain cool and warning of the deadly effects of a heatwave. Mr Holman reminded that heat alone can be a killer: “In 2009, we (had) 370 excess deaths in three days the week before Black Saturday,”
1. Warning of Ash Wednesday conditions as fires burn in SA and Vic.
By ABC News.
An out-of-control bushfire has destroyed at least five houses, two sheds and a fire truck in South Australia overnight and sparked the evacuation of hundreds of people as it moves closer to Adelaide’s north-eastern suburbs.