Baby rescued from car in soaring heat

Firefighters were called to the Mount Street car park at 12.30pm on Tuesday (August 20) following reports the girl had managed to lock the doors from the inside.

The keys were locked inside the vehicle with the increasingly upset child.

A kind-hearted member of the public offered to give the girl’s mother a lift back to her home near Mountfield to pick up some spare car keys.

Meanwhile four firefighters were left to look after the baby.

By this time of day the temperature had crept up to around 21 degrees, according to the Met Office.

Crew manager Dan Burnett said: “We stayed there just in case the child’s health deteriorated in the car.

“We covered the windows with sheets to shield her from the heat.

“We had to calm the child down and provide some entertainment for her.”

Concerned the car was getting too hot for the girl, firefighters were preparing to break the window when the girl’s mother returned with the spare set of keys.

After more than half an hour locked in the car the child was released, upset but unharmed by her ordeal.

The baby did not require hospital treatment.

Firefighters gave the girl some water before returning to the station.

Crew manager Burnett said it was not an unusual call out, but improved security meant it was not always easy to rescue a child locked in a vehicle.

He said: “We have had these calls in the past.

“It’s not particularly unusual.

“Sometimes it is a little easier to get them out.”