Weather Channel reporter sat in hot car in Cobb to warn of heat deaths

Alyssa Hyman, a reporter with Cobb County-based The Weather Channel, got in and stayed in a hot car to see for herself what it felt like.

Credit: Alyssa Hyman/The Weather Channel's Pattern

Credit: Alyssa Hyman/The Weather Channel's Pattern

Alyssa Hyman, a reporter with Cobb County-based The Weather Channel, got in and stayed in a hot car to see for herself what it felt like.

After four minutes sitting inside a car parked in the heat of a Cobb County summer, Weather Channel reporter Alyssa Hyman reminded her viewers that she was OK.

She was there to raise awareness about the number of children, elderly people and pets who die every year in hot cars across the country.

KidsAndCars.org, a nonprofit that tracks such incidents, reported that 43 children died of heatstroke last year.

Hyman streamed her time inside the hot car Thursday. Her vital signs were being monitored by Cobb County fire and EMS worker the entire time. If her body temperature reached 100 degrees, she was supposed to get out of the car.

The segment was streamed on the Twitter account of Pattern, a Weather Channel news outlet.

“This is not just a demonstration to be dramatic or to make good video. There is a point behind all of this,” Hyman said as they hooked her up with sensors.

The window was cracked so she could talk with firefighters. It was 88 degrees in the parking lot of The Weather Channel in the Cumberland area.

Even with a window cracked, according to the CDC, the temperature inside a car can rise 20 degrees within the first 10 minutes.

She said the temperature had gone up two degrees about six minutes after getting inside.

The firefighter looking after Hyman explained that there are three levels of heat’s effect: heat cramps, heatstroke and heat exhaustion.

Like Cobb County News Now on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter

He said the young and old are at risk because their bodies cannot regulate their temperatures.

After about 12 minutes, the firefighter decided it was time to pull Hyman out of the car.

She felt she could have gone longer, but her body temperature was 100. She had sweat stains on her clothes and was a bit shaky.

Sipping on a blue Gatorade, the reporter explained that this exercise was to remind folks.

“We’re not doing this for drama here. We’re doing this to make you think twice,” she said.

Georgia has had two notable hot car death murder trials in the past couple years.

READDeKalb hot car death: How it's different, similar to Ross Harris case

Cobb's Justin Ross Harris was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing his 22-month-old son Cooper by leaving him in a hot car. In DeKalb County, Dijanelle Fowler got 15 years for leaving her 1-year-old girl Skylar in a hot car.

Some automotive companies have installed features to alert drivers if there's something in their back seats before getting out of the car.

Join the conversation with Cobb County News Now