The National Weather Service issued multiple heat advisories and recommended that people stay inside earlier in June while a massive heat wave was causing record-setting temperatures all over the country.
Despite the heat warnings, firefighters in Murfreesboro, Tennessee had to save a 5-week-old baby who was locked inside of a hot SUV on June 13, according to WSMV-TV in Nashville.
After a customer saw a woman acting out of sorts in a Kroger grocery store parking lot, a welfare check was called in at 5:16 p.m. Police arrived at the parking lot and found Alexandria Lee, 27, outside of her locked SUV. They added that Lee was having difficulties keeping her balance.
Murfreesboro Fire Rescue Department (MFRD) firefighter Tyson Donaldson told WSMV-TV that he learned about the trapped infant after arriving at the scene.
"I got out of the truck and I walked over to the police officers, and they let us know that there might be a baby in the back seat of the car," Donaldson said.
Donaldson and firefighter Richard Goodyear then broke the windows of the 2013 Ford Escape and were able to safely get the infant out of the vehicle.
"The SUV was not running, and the infant had been inside the hot car for about 20-minutes," Donaldson said, according to a MFRD Facebook post. "Our number one priority was to get the baby out of the hot car as soon as possible."
"The five-week-old was immediately taken to a Murfreesboro Police Department officer’s patrol car to cool down in the air conditioning," the MFRD said.
Luckily, Melissa Nicholson, an off-duty nurse from the Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital NICU, was nearby and helped assist the firefighters with medical care before the baby was taken to Rutherford County Emergency Medical Services. MFRD added that the baby is expected to make a full recovery.
"The outside temperature was 97-degrees at the time with a heat index of 108-degrees,” Donaldson said. "Without a doubt, the beautiful baby is still on this earth, thanks concerned citizens, emergency personnel and the off-duty nurse."
Police then found a half-empty opened bottle of Tequila in the SUV, as Lee was arrested and faces charges of driving under the influence and aggravated child neglect/abuse.
“We want to remind parents not to leave children or animals unattended in a hot car," MFRD Assistant Chief Medical Services Jeff Wright said. "It is not only dangerous, but potentially deadly with the extreme temperatures we’ve been experiencing."
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