OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Omaha experienced a nasty heat wave the past few days.
Temperatures can skyrocket in a matter of minutes, putting your child's life in danger.
3 News Now Investigator Jeff Van Sant hopped into a car without the engine running to find out how long he could go in the stifling conditions.
According to some experts, most of the temperature rises about 80 percent of the time in the first 10 minutes.
"I've been in the vehicle for 5 minutes, I'm at almost 210 degrees," Jeff said.
Kidsandcars.org reports 88 percent of children who die from heat stroke in a car are 3 or younger.
52 kids in all died in cars last year.
A child's body heats up 3 to 5 times faster than an adult.
It became unbearable for Jeff quickly.
"My face is really red.. I'm dripping sweat. We just hit the 10 minute mark, my phone shut off because its too hot," he said.
This quick demonstration shows you how fast a car turns into an oven and how fast a child can suffer.
Teach your kids to honk the horn if they're stuck in the car and make it a habit to look in the back seat.
The heat gun he was using measures the surface temperature or whatever it hits, so the air temperature was likely less, but still way too hot.
According to the National Safety Council, there have been two cases of heat-related child deaths in Nebraska in the past two decades.
