With the rising temperatures, Opp Police Chief Mike McDonald is reminding locals to be vigilant in remembering their children in their cars and not leaving them in vehicles.

“To date, during this year, there have been 15 deaths as a result of parents or caregivers leaving children unattended in cars,” he said. “One of these deaths was in Alabama.”

That death occurred on April 29 in Monroeville. The victim was a 7-month-old baby boy.

On average, 38 children die from heat-related deaths after being trapped inside vehicles, according to kidsandcars.org.

“These are unfortunate, unnecessary deaths,” McDonald said. “The temperature in a vehicle can hit 130-150 degrees very quickly. As a result, a child or an elderly person will rapidly suffer respiratory distress and heart failure. When you get out of your vehicle, take you child with you.”

McDonald said when you park your vehicle, lock the vehicle so a child cannot get into it.

“If you see a child in an unattended vehicle, immediately contact law enforcement,” he said.

According to kidsandcars.org, cracking the windows does not help show the heating process or decrease the maximum temperature.

Additionally, 80 percent of the temperature increase occurs in the first 10 minutes and children have died from heatstroke in cars in temps as low as 60 degrees.

Contributing factors to this include:

• A child’s body overheats three to five times faster than an adult body;

• Change in normal daily routine, lack of sleep, stress, fatigue, distractions, hormone changes, worry;

• Rear-facing car seats look the same whether there is a baby in it or not;

• Children, especially babies, often fall asleep in their rear-facing seats and do not make noise.