Paramedics handle back-to-back calls about children trapped in hot cars

Paramedics are urging Ottawans to be aware of the heat after they received two calls within seven minutes Tuesday about children left in hot vehicles.

At around 1:08 p.m., paramedics were called to a shopping centre parking lot on Tenth Line Road in Orléans after a six-year-old girl was left alone in a car.

People concerned for the girl's well-being broke the car window and took the girl into their own air-conditioned vehicle, the Ottawa Paramedic Service said in a release.

Seven minutes later, paramedics received a second call — again from a mall parking lot — on Terminal Avenue, where a parent had accidentally locked their keys and their 19-month-old in their vehicle.

Both of the children were unharmed, paramedics said, and neither were transported to hospital.

Hot cars can hit 55 C 

The temperature in Ottawa was expected to hit 32 C on Tuesday, and on Wednesday it could feel like 41 with the humidity.

As a result, Environment Canada has issued a heat warning for the city and much of eastern Ontario.

Paramedics are urging people to remember that the inside of a vehicle parked in the sun can quickly reach 55 C, and that the first phase of heat stroke — which can be fatal — can develop within minutes.

People should call 911 if they see a child or a pet stranded inside a hot vehicle, the paramedic service said.