A 2-year-old Marana girl died Tuesday after police say she was left in a hot car for up to an hour in triple-digit heat.
Tucson’s high temperature Tuesday reached 111 degrees.
The emergency call has weighed heavily on every officer and paramedic who responded to the home in Marana, said Capt. Tim Brunenkant, who has been with the department for 29 years. He said the call is the first such incident to occur in the town during his tenure.
Marana police and Northwest Fire were called to the area of Paseo Rancho Acero, near North Camino De Oeste and West Cortaro Farms Road, about 4 p.m. after a report of an unresponsive child inside a vehicle, the department said in a Facebook post.
The child was immediately rendered aid but was pronounced dead at a hospital, Brunenkant said. An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday morning, but no results had been issued by early afternoon.
Brunenkant said the child was sleeping inside the vehicle when the father arrived home. He left her in the vehicle with the air conditioning running while he went inside the house. When he came out to retrieve the child later, he noticed the air conditioning had shut off, Brunenkant said.
Police said Tuesday that they hope door bell or security cameras in the neighborhood might narrow down a timeline.
The inside of a car creates a greenhouse-type effect, causing temperatures to rise by 20 degrees in 10 minutes and 50 degrees in as little as less than an hour, the National Weather Service warns.
The heat consequently leads to “hyperthermia or heat stroke in only minutes,” especially in children since their “body temperatures warm at a rate three to five times faster than an adult,” the weather service says on its website. Studies have shown that cracking windows offers little relief, it says.
From 1990-2023, 1,083 children have died nationally from being left in sweltering vehicles, according to Kids and Car Safety, a national nonprofit that is dedicated to saving children and pets from such deaths.
For that same period, Arizona had 47 deaths of kids left in cars, the group says. Only Florida, Texas and California had more such deaths during the time period.
The survey also shows that the overwhelming majority of hot-car deaths involve a child who was unknowingly left, or gained access to a vehicle on their own. Very few cases involve drugs, alcohol, prior CPS involvement or neglect, the data show.
No charges have been filed in the Marana case, but it remains under investigation.
Brunenkant said the case has been difficult on the assortment of first responders who tried to save the girl.
“It impacts everybody,” he said. “And we remain very mindful of that.” Peer support teams have been made available to local first responders.
