WATCH: Deputy Shows How Hot Cars Can Get

With excessive heat warnings up for the Tampa Bay area through the weekend, the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office wants to remind people just how dangerous it can be to leave anyone inside a parked vehicle.

That’s why Deputy Ray Vleck volunteered to demonstrate what conditions are really like in a parked vehicle with the windows rolled up. Vleck sat inside his marked SUV with a video camera rolling for about 11 minutes. The temperature inside the vehicle reached 110.4 degrees, and Vleck was visibly shaken by the time the demonstration was over.

“I felt very light headed,” he explained after climbing out of the SUV. “It was very hard for me to breathe inside the car.”

Vleck said the video serves as a warning to people to not leave anyone inside a car with the windows rolled up on a hot day.

“Please do not hesitate if you happen to see a child locked inside a vehicle, call 911,” he said.

Sheriff Tom Knight said the video was released to raise awareness and to protect the people of Sarasota County.

“Everyone needs to watch this important safety message and consider what measures they can take to prevent it from happening,” he said in an email announcing the video’s release.

The sheriff’s office estimates about 23 children throughout America have died in hot vehicles so far this year. A total of 619 children have died in vehicles since 1998 due to heatstroke. About half those deaths were related to caregiver error, but 30 percent were due to children climbing in a vehicle without anyone knowing.

Photo Credit: Deputy Ray Vleck/YouTube