Share this Story: 'Absolutely tragic': Toddler left in hot car in Burnaby dies 'Absolutely tragic': Toddler left in hot car in Burnaby dies The unconscious 16-month-old child was found in a car at Kingsway Avenue and Inman Street on Thursday night. Photo by Nick Procaylo / PNG Article content The news of an “absolutely tragic” death of a baby boy who died in the back of a hot car Thursday shook the city of Burnaby and beyond Friday. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking,” Burnaby RCMP Chief Supt. Deanne Burleigh said Friday. “It’s a tragedy and it has ripple effects throughout the community.” We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'Absolutely tragic': Toddler left in hot car in Burnaby dies Back to video The 16-month-old infant died after being left “several hours” in a car parked near Kingsway and Inman Avenue near Burnaby’s Central Park while temperatures soared into the 20s C. Burleigh said police are investigating by interviewing family members, witnesses, pedestrians and people in the neighbourhood, and she said she couldn’t release many details. Photo by Jason Payne / PNG She could confirm that the RCMP received a 911 call at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, but “at this point I won’t comment on who made the call.” When first responders arrived, “the baby was unconscious.” He was taken to hospital, where he was “declared deceased,” according to police. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content The infant’s father was at the scene and both parents are co-operating with the investigation, police said. Burleigh called the death an “extremely tragic event.” “As with any tragedy like this, I can’t imagine how the parents are coping. As a parent, I don’t know how I would cope,” she said. Victims’ services were made available to the family and “they are surrounded by friends and family, and that’s as far as I can go with that,” said Burleigh. She said it’s too early to discuss the possibility of charges. “We can’t rule in or out anything like that,” she said. The death hit those involved hard, she said. “Any of the first responders who attended, anybody at the hospital who attended, any of the family members. It’s absolutely tragic,” she said. Photo by Jason Payne / PNG Some residents of the 5600-block of Inman, where it intersects Kingsway, appeared stunned when they heard the news Friday. Jeremy Yang, who lives on the street of low-rise apartments, was pushing his sleeping 21-month-old daughter in a stroller when he learned the reason for all the police cars on the street Thursday night. “Oh, yesterday was so hot,” he said. “Oh my goodness. No one should ever leave their child in a car. I always take my daughter out of the car when I take her anywhere. Even my dogs I would never leave in the car.” Sylvia Hopu, the manager of the New Cedar Lodge apartment building that was surrounded by yellow police tape Thursday, said police visited her that evening and told her there had been a death. She wept when she learned Friday it was a baby. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content She said the building is within walking distance of the Patterson SkyTrain station and Telus headquarters, and said it’s not unusual to have cars parked on the street all day. Photo by Nick Procaylo / PNG The CEFA Early Learning daycare is at the corner of Inman and Kingsway. A daycare employee wouldn’t say whether the baby attended the daycare and a woman who answered the phone said she had no comment. Lee Block, who lives at New Cedar Lodge, said she heard the sirens and saw police arriving when she went out for her early-evening walk Thursday. By the time she returned an hour later, the building was surrounded by police tape and officers asked to see her ID before escorting her to the front door. “It was taped up right up to here and they wouldn’t tell us nothing,” she said. “How could that have happened?” Burleigh said RCMP wanted to send the message about the importance of never leaving a child of any age unattended in a vehicle, especially in the heat, and to always check to make sure children are accounted for. Photo by Jason Payne / PNG “It’s about diligence, vigilance,” she said. “We all get tired. We’re all exhausted at certain points. It’s about taking that extra time. The only way to prevent this is regardless of fatigue, regardless of how many things you may have on the go in your world at any given point, a child is the focus of your attention and your care until they are put into the care and attention of another individual.” The B.C. Coroners Service said it was investigating the boy’s death. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content There are an average of 37 deaths of children in hot cars every year in the U.S., but no statistics are available for Canadian cases, according to canadasafetycouncil.org. Janette Fennell, founder of kidsandcars.org, which tracks vehicle-related accidents involving children, said in a news release that a vehicle heats up to deadly temperatures within minutes, even on a mild day, and a child’s temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult’s. The organization suggests putting something, like a cellphone, purse or briefcase, in the back seat next to the baby seat that requires you to open the back door, and to make it a routine to check the back seat every time you park. slazaruk@postmedia.com CLICK HERE to report a typo. Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com. Share this article in your social network Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<doc-sep>Send this page to someone via email A 16-month-old boy is dead after being left in a hot car in Burnaby on Thursday. According to Acting Burnaby Fire Chief Dave Younger, firefighters were called to the 5600-block of Inman Avenue around 5:20 p.m., to reports of child locked in a vehicle. Story continues below advertisement Burnaby RCMP says the child was unconscious when first responders arrived. Sources tell Global News the boy was left in the vehicle for nine hours. According to police, the boy’s father was located at the scene, and both parents are cooperating with the investigation. WATCH: Burnaby RCMP hold update after toddler dies in hot car 0:53 Burnaby RCMP hold update after toddler dies in hot car Burnaby RCMP hold update after toddler dies in hot car – May 10, 2019 “It’s absolutely heartbreaking, it’s a tragedy, it has ripple effects throughout the community,” said Chief Supt. Deanne Burleigh, Officer in Charge of the Burnaby RCMP. Burleigh said police were in the very early stages of the investigation and canvassing the neighbourhood and could not provide more details about the case. Story continues below advertisement “As with any tragedy like this, I can’t imagine how the parents are coping. As a parent myself I can’t imagine how I would cope. So we have provided victim services, they are surrounded by friends and family,” she said. The BC Coroners Service is also investigating. Police said no one has been arrested in the incident. Younger said when crews arrived, paramedics were removing the child from the vehicle. WATCH: New motion sensor technology could save lives 1:50 New motion sensor technology could save lives New motion sensor technology could save lives – Aug 1, 2017 The infant was transported to hospital in critical condition by paramedics, with firefighters assisting with CPR. Story continues below advertisement BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) said four units, including an advanced life support unit, arrived on scene within four minutes of receiving the call. WATCH: A baby left in a car can quickly become a fatality 2:48 A baby left in a car can quickly become a fatality A baby left in a car can quickly become a fatality – Jul 12, 2016 “With this kind of weather we’re having, yesterday we had record highs, this definitely wouldn’t be a time to leave your child at all in the car, or an animal, or anything,” said Younger. “Very scary thing.” Burleigh said police are pleading with the public not to leave their children alone in their vehicles in the warm weather. Story continues below advertisement “When you’re transporting your children in a vehicle, please check the vehicle and ensure that you have delivered your child and that they’re no longer in the vehicle when you’re parked and you’ve gone off to do your business for the day.” WATCH: RCMP warn parents and caregivers of the danger of leaving children in hot cars 0:39 ‘It’s about diligence, vigilance, we all get tired, we’re all exhausted at certain points’: RCMP on the death of toddler in hot car ‘It’s about diligence, vigilance, we all get tired, we’re all exhausted at certain points’: RCMP on the death of toddler in hot car – May 10, 2019 Experts say it can take just 20 minutes for the interior of a vehicle to reach extreme temperatures on a warm day. According to safety website kidsandcars.org, 52 children died of heatstroke in cars across the U.S. in 2018, and nine have lost their lives already in 2019.<doc-sep>RCMP have launched an investigation after a baby who was left for hours in a vehicle in a busy neighborhood in Burnaby, B.C., died despite efforts to resuscitate him. “We want to be thorough. The infant deserves that,” Chief Superintendent Deanne Burleigh, officer in charge of the Burnaby RCMP detachment, told a news conference on Friday. “We speak for the victim.” A day earlier, Mounties responded at 5:45 p.m. to a 911 call about an unconscious baby in a vehicle parked in an area of Burnaby, which is east of Vancouver, that includes a park, apartment buildings and businesses. The temperature was about 20 degrees in a spell of unusually warm weather. Story continues below advertisement The child, aged 16 months, was taken to hospital. Police disclosed the incident on Friday. In a statement, the RCMP said officers found the baby’s father in the area and that both parents are co-operating in the investigation. The superintendent said police can say only that the child was in the car for “several hours,” and investigators are gathering evidence to determine a more precise timeline. Victim services workers have been called in to help the family, who are also being attended to by friends and relatives, Supt. Burleigh said. “I can’t imagine how the parents are coping. As a parent myself, I can’t imagine how I would cope,” she said. She called the incident a heartbreaking tragedy. Story continues below advertisement “It’s horrible. There’s no words to describe what anybody would be feeling right now, any of the first responders who attended, anybody at the hospital, any of the family members.” Supt. Burleigh reminded parents that children must be the focus of adults caring for them until they are put into the care of another adult. “It’s about not leaving children at any point unattended in a vehicle," she said. "Make sure you’ve delivered them where they need to be delivered. We’re [in] a heat wave right now. Please don’t leave your children unattended in a car, [at] any age.” Supt. Burleigh said no one has been arrested. “At the moment, it’s all about interviews. We’re interviewing witnesses, families, neighborhood and anybody in the area,” she said. “We will be as efficient and quick as we can, but we want to cover all our bases and make sure the investigation is thorough.” The BC Coroners Service, which looks into all child deaths in the province, has also launched an investigation. Story continues below advertisement Andy Watson of the service said in an e-mail exchange that while police have a fault-finding role to see if criminality is involved, the service may make recommendations on how to prevent deaths in similar circumstances. Mr. Watson said he was not aware of any previous deaths in B.C. involving a child left unattended in a vehicle. In a statement on its website, the Canada Safety Council says an average of 37 deaths involving children left in vehicles occur in the United States each year, but no statistics are available for Canadian cases. The council statement says children can be left in a car unintentionally, “forgotten in a moment of absent-mindedness” or trapped after playing unsupervised in an unlocked vehicle. The council suggests parents make a habit of placing their cellphone, purse or wallet close to the child seat so they always see the child before they leave the vehicle.<doc-sep>RCMP say a toddler has died after being left in a vehicle for hours during a spring heat wave. Mounties in Burnaby say officers responded late Thursday afternoon to a report of an unconscious 16-month-old who was in a car near the city’s Central Park. RCMP say the tot was taken to hospital and declared dead. Andy Watson with the BC Coroners Service confirms the child was a boy and says the office is in the early stages of its investigation. Police say initial information provided to officers was that the child had been left unaccompanied in the car for a number of hours. They say the infant’s father was found at the scene and both parents are co-operating in the investigation. No arrests have been made. CHEK Newsletter Sign up for our newsletter to get breaking news and daily digests sent to your email. Email Address Sign Up RCMP Chief Supt. Deanne Burleigh says investigators are interviewing witnesses and can’t release further information at this time. She says police are asking parents to be aware of the dangers of leaving children in vehicles, especially as the weather gets warmer. “Police are also asking that parents are vigilant when transporting their children, double-checking the back seat of the vehicle to ensure it is clear before parking and leaving the vehicle,” she says in a statement. Several heat records were broken across the province on Thursday. In Metro Vancouver, temperatures inland reached into the mid-20s C.<doc-sep>
VANCOUVER—Authorities are urging parents to never leave a child unattended in a car following the death of a 16-month-old boy. RCMP said an ambulance was called Thursday afternoon to help an unconscious toddler in a vehicle near Burnaby’s Central Park, just east of Vancouver. The boy was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Several heat records were broken across the province Thursday. In Metro Vancouver, temperatures inland reached into the mid-20s C. Burnaby RCMP said Friday that while many of the details are still being investigated, the parents of the toddler are co-operating with the investigation and receiving victim services. “As with any tragedy like this, I can’t imagine how the parents are coping,” said Supt. Deanne Burleigh. “As a parent myself, I can’t imagine how I would cope; so we have provided victim services. They are surrounded by friends and family.” Burleigh said the child’s father was found at the scene. She said she couldn’t say whether any charges would be laid. The BC Coroners’ Service is in the early stages of an investigation. Robert Gordon, a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University, said that in general, when a child dies, charges can range from failure to provide the necessities of life to criminal negligence causing death to murder, depending on what police find during the course of their investigation. Gordon is not involved in this case. But if police determine the child was left in the vehicle by accident, it is very unlikely that charges will be laid because it simply isn’t in the public interest to do so, said lawyer Kyla Lee. “You know the parent will carry this for the rest of their life; it’s going to haunt them,” said Lee, who is also not involved in this case. “The question becomes, is it worth putting everybody through a trial and through reliving that experience to get a conviction and to give this person a jail sentence that’s not going to change anything.” On its website, the independent Canada Safety Council charity says a General Motors study found that the temperature in a previously air-conditioned car can jump to 50 C within 20 minutes, when the temperature outside is 35 C. Last year, a three-year-old died after being left in a hot car in Burlington, Ont. In the United States, 749 children have died of heatstroke in vehicles since 1998, according to noheatstroke.org. Most of the children were three years old or younger. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Burleigh said the main message that RCMP want to get out is that such deaths can be prevented. “It’s tragic. It’s horrible. There are no words to describe what anybody would be feeling right now. Please don’t leave your child unattended in a car.” With files from The Canadian Press Read more about: