SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – A 1-year-old girl left in a hot car at a Seminole County gas station Friday afternoon has died hours after another child died in a similar incident in neighboring Orange County.
The child in the second hot-car incident of the day in Central Florida was found at 4:40 p.m. at a Sanford Wawa location on State Road 46, according to the Seminole County Fire Department. The baby was not conscious and not breathing. She was taken to the hospital, where officials say she died.
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The Seminole County Sheriff's Office is investigating the incident. Deputies said the preliminary indication is the girl was left "accidentally."
Temperatures set records in Sanford for the third day in a row Friday with a high of 96 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne. The previous record was 94 degrees on this date.
About two hours earlier in neighboring Orange County, a 4-year-old boy was found by a bystander at 2:25 p.m. in a locked vehicle that was not running, which was parked at Elite Preparatory Academy, deputies said. He later died after being taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, according to officials.
Thirty-seven children die each year as a result of being left in a hot car according to the National Safety Council.
Car manufacturers have been working on technology solutions to prevent hot car deaths. Learn about some of those options here.
Central Florida Emergency Room physicians demonstrated earlier this year how dangers hot cars are for children. Read what they said about preventing these incidents here.
A vehicle parked in the sun for one hour reaches an average cabin temperature of 116 degrees. To put those numbers into perspective, it only takes a core body temperature of 107 degrees Fahrenheit for cells to be damaged and internal organs to begin shutting down.
Check back for updates on this developing story.