The Harford County sheriff issued a child safety warning after a 6-month-old died from being left in a hot vehicle for several hours.

"We live in busy times," Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said. "We're easily distracted. So much going on in everyone's life, but you can't let that impact the responsibility that comes first and foremost, which is our youngest and most vulnerable."

Hot car death in Maryland

The Harford County Sheriff's Office is investigating the baby girl's death. Gahler said the baby was left in a hot car on Sunday, July 6, in Belcamp, Maryland.

This was the second hot car death in Maryland in 2025, according to the organization Kids and Car Safety. It's at least the 14th nationwide.

"Nobody, nobody thinks that this is something that's going to happen to them until it does," said Amber Rollins, Director of Kids and Car Safety. "We definitely see a spike in fatalities in May through September. With so many heat waves coming through this time of year, the risk has just increased."

The heat index at BWI Airport reached 88 degrees by 4 p.m. with feels-like temperatures peaking at 92 degrees on the day the baby was left in the car, according to WJZ's First Alert Weather team.

Maryland's first hot car death in 2025 was the death of a 2-year-old girl who was left unattended in a hot car in Montgomery County in May, according to police. 

Preventing hot car deaths 

Rollins advised parents to check their backseat before locking up the car.

"Take something that you can't start your day without, put that in the backseat on the floor right in front of your child's car seat," Rollins said.

On warm days, the inside of a parked vehicle can rise by 20 degrees in 10 minutes, even when the windows are cracked, Harford County officials said. 

Children's bodies can heat up three to five times faster than adults, putting them at a higher risk for heat stroke. 

Julie Siejack, a nurse with UM Upper Chesapeake Health and a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, told WJZ she recommends that parents put something in the back seat that they will need when they get out of their car. 

She urged parents not to leave their kids in the car for any reason, even when temperatures start to drop.

If you see a child alone in a car, you should call 911, officials said. 

Heat-related deaths and illnesses

Looking at data from the Maryland Department of Health, 11 reported heat-related deaths have occurred so far in 2025.  That's five more than around this same time last year.

Data shows that nine of the people who died were 65 or older. One death was a child.

Data also shows more than 170 visits to the emergency department and urgent care for heat-related illnesses during the week of June 29.

During the week of June 22, the emergency department and urgent care facilities saw more than 470 visits. Most of those visits were in Baltimore City and surrounding counties — Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, and Howard.

The health department reported 27 heat-related deaths across the state in 2024. In 2023, health officials reported nine.