Girl, 4, Dies In Hot Car In Pennsylvania, Bringing 2016 Total To 20

A hot car death has been reported in Pennsylvania as the region is in the midst of a heat wave.

Authorities say a 4-year-old girl in Lycoming County died after being left in a hot car for several hours Friday, as temperatures soared to the upper 90s.

The girl, identified in an NBC10 report as Samaria Motyka, was supposed to be dropped off at a Williamsport day care center by her caretaker but was left in the car during the day as the woman went to work.

Temperatures reached 97 degrees that day.

The incident is one of many across the country already reported in 2016.

According to noheatstroke.org, a site containing research compiled by San Jose State University Professor Jan Null, 20 hot car deaths have been reported in the United States so far this year, including Friday's death in Williamsport. From 1998 to 2015, there have been 10 hot car deaths in Pennsylvania.

In 2015, a total of 24 children died as a result of heatstroke from being left in hot cars.

According to Null's research, since 1998, nearly 700 children have died after being left in hot cars. Circumstances surrounding the incidents are accidental, and sometimes, intentional, the research shows.

Of the deaths since 1998, 54 percent of those were due to a caregiver forgetting them in a car. In 29 percent of the cases, a child was playing in a car and got stuck in side. And 17 percent of cases were intentional, Null's research suggests.

Heatstroke is defined as when a person's temperature exceeds 104 degrees F and the thermoregulatory mechanism is overwhelmed. Symptoms include dizziness, disorientation, agitation, confusion, sluggishness, seizure, hot dry skin that is flushed but not sweaty, loss of consciousness, rapid heart beat and hallucinations. Internal organs begin shutting down, followed by death.

A child’s body temperature warms at a rate three to five times faster than an adult’s.

Research conducted by Null, who works in the department of meteorology and climate science, shows that two-thirds of the heating in a vehicle, with no windows cracked, occurs in the first 20 minutes, when the temperature could rise by 29 degrees. Two hours later, the temperature could rise by as much as 50 degrees.

In 2014, several videos went viral as adults filmed themselves inside of hot cars. "I would never leave my kids in a car like this," said YouTube user Terry Williams of Raleigh, North Carolina. "We go through this every year."

A Texas police officer turned off his patrol car and sat without air conditioning, recording his experience on video in 5-minute intervals. Cpl. Jessie Peterson of the Highland Village Police Department only lasted 30 minutes in quickly rising temperatures of the car before he had to get out and recover.

Peterson was sweating after the first five minutes, though the air had been on high right before he turned off the car. When half an hour had passed, he was flushed, sweating and had trouble breathing. At the time of his experiment, he said the high outside was 94 degrees.

With reporting by Tim Darnell