WATCH: How hot is it now in Israel? Video shows it’s enough to fry chicken – and teaches important lesson

United Hatzalah founder Eli Beer stresses how dangerous Israeli summers are and delivers a lifesaving message.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

United Hatzalah founder Eli Beer has created a video with a lesson to parents on the dangers of leaving children in locked cars.

In the video clip, the jovial Beer gives his recipe for breaded schnitzel, and when the fire does not turn on under the frying pan, he says, “I’m going to show you another way to fry schnitzel if you don’t have a stove.”

He then goes to his car, puts the pan – loaded with oil and chicken strips – on the back seat, and closes the door. At this point, the video shows that the temperature is 95 degrees Fahrenheit. It is unclear how much time has passed before he opens the door again, but the temperature inside the vehicle is now a whopping 143 degrees and the schnitzel is frying merrily.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Beer says. The car had become an oven “inside a car in Jerusalem.”

The rescue service works 24/7 to save lives, and it is called upon numerous times in the hot weather to break into vehicles to help get babies and youngsters out, Beer said. Many times, it is too late.

Speaking over footage of volunteers breaking vehicles’ windows, Beer says, “I’m urging all of us to remember our children, to not leave them in the car for even one second.”

Israeli government records show that between 2010 and 2020, 34 children died this way. According to the “Terem” organization, hundreds of other kids who had been left unattended in parked cars were rescued in time.

Studies have shown that high temperatures affect infants and toddlers three to five times more quickly than adults, since their bodies are so much smaller.

In a study for General Motors quoted in the Ministry of Health’s website, the temperature of a car parked in the sun rose from 95 to 122 in only 20 minutes, and at the 40-minute mark it was 150 degrees.

A law passed in March 2021 requires that some kind of electronic safety device be installed in a car for every child under age four. This can be a sensor put under the child’s seat linked to the driver’s smartphone that will send a warning if the driver walks away with the child still in the car. There are also apps that can identify when a journey begins and ends, and send voice and vibration reminders to the driver until they are canceled by the user.

There are non-technological methods to help parents remember their children as well, such as a clip connecting the steering wheel to the key ring. Since the driver will not be able to leave the car without releasing the clip, it is a physical reminder that there are children in the back seat who also must be released from their straps.

The child safety law was enacted for two years, with an assessment to be made of its efficacy by this month.

Eli Beerextreme heatIsraeli childrenministry of healthUnited Hatzalah