Firefighters, animal control remove dog from locked car in midtown

It was a comparatively cool morning, but Sacramento firefighters and animal control officers decided to remove a dog locked in a car because temperatures were warming inside the vehicle.

Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey said a resident reported the dog in the car at 27th and L streets across the street from Sutter’s Fort at 8:41 a.m. Wednesday. Firefighters were on the scene within five minutes.

Fire Department protocol is that firefighters are to remove an animal from a vehicle if the temperature inside is above 90 degrees as registered on a thermal imaging camera. In such an instance, firefighters can open the vehicle with animal control on the scene.

The Fire Department’s imaging gun registered 91 degrees when the animal control officer quickly arrived. The animal control officer’s imaging gun registered 95 degrees.

Firefighters took about 15 seconds to open the car with a slim device. The dog got out of the car and was taken to the shelter.

A note was left on the car so that the owner could retrieve the dog. The car was not damaged.

“The whole call took less than 10 minutes,” said Harvey. “This morning was breezy and cool. Perhaps some folks have been lulled into a false sense of security. It very quickly gets hot inside a car regardless of how warm it is outside.”

The first citation for leaving a dog in a hot car is $100. Fines can increase to $500.

This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 1:10 PM with the headline "Firefighters, animal control remove dog from locked car in midtown."