15-month-old toddler dies in Nevada County after being found alone in parked car

A 15-month-old toddler died after being found alone in a parked car Sunday afternoon south of Grass Valley, according to the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call at 4:54 p.m. about the toddler in a vehicle on Ragan Way in Alta Sierra, agency spokesperson Ashley Quadros said. First responders from the Sheriff’s Office, the Nevada County Consolidated Fire District and Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital found the child unresponsive and attempted life-saving measures.

The toddler was pronounced dead at the hospital, Quadros said, and the cause of death remained under investigation.

Jan Null, a meteorologist who has extensively researched the deaths of children in hot cars, said the 15-month-old toddler likely died due to what he called pediatric vehicular heatstroke.

The high temperature late Sunday afternoon in Alta Sierra was about 88 degrees, which means the air temperature inside the parked car could have exceeded 135 degrees, according to Null.

“This is a bright, sunny day,” he said. “It’s just like a greenhouse.”

Null added the case to his website’s list tracking pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths, as the 20th one this year in the country and the third in California.