How To Keep Kids, Pets Safe During Summer Heat In Georgia

GEORGIA -- With temperatures reaching near or above 90 degrees already this year, it's worth a reminder that extreme heat can have serious consequences for people and pets alike. Patch has rounded up information on heat-related illnesses and how to respond to kids and pets left in hot cars in Georgia.

Heat-related illnesses and prevention

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 600 people across the U.S. are killed by extreme heat each year. Extreme heat causes the body to work harder to balance its temperature. Overexposure or too much physical activity in extreme heat can spur heat-related illnesses.

Some groups of people are more prone to heat-related illnesses than others. These include seniors 65 and up, people with chronic conditions, outdoor workers, infants and children, low-income residents and athletes.

Kids left in hot cars

A report from the National Safety Council shows that even as deaths due to vehicular heatstroke rise, fewer than half of U.S. states have any kind of law addressing it.

Every state, including ours, is lacking in protection, failing to receive an A grade from the safety council.

What does exist in 21 states is a patchwork of laws, only eight of which include the possibility of felony charges when children are deliberately left alone in hot cars. Some laws lack teeth — police in Rhode Island, for example, give a verbal warning if someone leaves a child alone in a car. Other laws suggest there are time periods when children are "safe" in a hot car, the opposite of what the National Safety Council wants people to know: Children are never safely left unattended in a car.

In 2017, Georgia got a D from the National Safety Council for failing to implement policy changes that could help reduce the number of hot car deaths. The Peach State ranks 36th nationally in the nearly 20-year database kept by kidsandcars.org that tracks hot car deaths by state from 1999-2017.

Laws that define how long a child can be left in a car or a Good Samaritan law that would protect people who might rescue kids from hot cars are not in place are not in place in Georgia; the report says the state does not address many of the circumstances that caused 38 kids to die in hot cars from during that period. Read the full Georgia safety report card.

Dogs left in hot cars

If you see a dog locked in a hot car what would you do? If you're a dog lover, you probably feel like breaking the window and getting the dog out as quickly as possible. Well, if you live in Georgia, that may not be the best idea from a legal standpoint.

"There is currently no Georgia law permitting a person to break someone else's car window to rescue a pet," said Deputy Shannon Volkodav, public information officer for the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office. "A concerned citizen should dial 911 to notify authorities if they locate an animal left in a hot car because responding Gwinnett County law enforcement officers are authorized to take action to save the animal.

"If a citizen believes the animal to be in immediate danger and breaks the window to rescue the animal, the citizen may face legal consequences," she told Patch. "There have been situations, however, where citizens believed that rescuing an animal at risk of serious illness or death in a hot car was well worth the risk. We agree that no animal should bake to death in a hot car. It's a tortuous, painful death which no animal deserves."

Gwinnett County code, for example, says about removing animals locked in vehicles: "A law enforcement officer may use any force necessary to remove any animal locked in a closed vehicle when the ambient temperature is 80 degrees Fahrenheit or above outside the vehicle. If the vehicle is damaged during such removal, the law enforcement officer shall not be liable for any damage to the vehicle." There's no mention of the public taking similar action.

Gwinnett County code establishes that leaving animals in hot cars without proper ventilation to prevent suffering physical distress from heat exhaustion is cruelty to animals.

Many people realize that leaving pets in hot cars can be deadly, but what they don't realize is that high temperatures can also cause irreparable organ damage, as well, according to the Humane Society of The United States.

What to do:
Here's some ways The Humane Society says you can help if you see a pet in a hot car:

• Take down the car's make, model and license plate number.
• If there are businesses nearby, notify their managers or security guards and ask them to make an announcement to find the car's owner. Many people are unaware of the danger of leaving pets in hot cars and will quickly return to their vehicle once they are alerted to the situation.
• If the owner can't be found, call the non-emergency number of the local police or animal control and wait by the car for them to arrive. In several states, good Samaritans can legally remove animals from cars under certain circumstances. That, however, is not the case for Georgia.

Other facts that may surprise you, according to the Humane Society:

• Rolling down windows has been shown to have little effect on the temperature inside a car.
• When it's 72 degrees Fahrenheit outside, the temperature inside your car can heat up to 116 degrees Fahrenheit within an hour.
• When it's 80 degrees Fahrenheit outside, the temperature inside your car can heat up to 99 degrees Fahrenheit within 10 minutes.

Patch editor Deb Belt contributed to this reporting.