AUS 14yr old Boy dies in 118F heat on hike with father

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This moron (father) should be charged with manslaughter.

It's 130 in the shade up there at this time of the year.

Absolute insanity. Suicidal, especially for the inexperienced.

The saying here is "only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun". There's a reason for that.
 
I can totally relate to this situation. My dad always insisted on taking vacation in July and August in some of the hottest places imaginable. One year, he made us hike in Death Valley. My father didn't have a clue that this wasn't a good idea.

Another year it was Dinosaur Nat. Monument--hiking for 3-4 hours w/ no water. The water in the fountain back at the visitor's center was yellow and I wouldn't drink it. He refused to give us anything from the cooler--the fountain was good enough. It later turned out the water was contaminated. He spent a week in a trauma center for drinking so much. (I went hours without water.)

My husband frequently tells me my childhood was full of abuse; sometimes, like now, I'm amazed we made it out alive.
 
Yoda said:
This article helped me understand the terrain and what locals think- which was no one hikes with temps like that.
Plus "A sign put up by Western Australia’s Department of Environment and Conservation at the start of the five-mile Badjirrajirra Walk recommends that visitors avoid attempting it at this time of year."
What was this dad thinking???



http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/scottish-schoolboy-dies-during-australian-1503131
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Exactly! This dad obviously wasn't thinking of the best for his son...why isn't he up on charges of child endangerment or neglect, if not manslaughter as posted above?
 
The link says the Scottish father "now" lives in Australia. I wonder how long he's lived there and why he didn't know better? I live in the desert outside Los Angeles and I certainly wouldn't go hiking at those temperatures.

But I should add that it's sometimes hard to measure heat stroke. They say that by the time you feel thirsty, you are already overheated. We had a plumber carted off in an ambulance because of the heat and he and his partner had been drinking water regularly for over an hour.

My husband loves the heat and does all sorts of things outside in the summer that I wouldn't do. (It is now summer in Australia obviously.)

So whether the father should be charged with a criminal offense is difficult to say.
 
Turn on your oven to medium high.

Let it heat for 10 minutes.

Open it and stick your head in. That's what 130 feels like. You can literally fry an egg.
 
SapphireSteel said:
Turn on your oven to medium high.

Let it heat for 10 minutes.

Open it and stick your head in. That's what 130 feels like. You can literally fry an egg.
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Per this site, medium high heat is 375-400 degrees Farenheit. No desert on this planet gets that hot. LOL.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_temperature_is_considered_high_and_medium_in_an_oven


But anything over 110 is frankly ridiculous, IMO, and too hot for man or beast. Yet the desert resort town in which I live does a booming business in European tourists during August. That's when they get time off, so that's when they come here. Beats me.
 
Nova said:
Per this site, medium high heat is 375-400 degrees Farenheit. No desert on this planet gets that hot. LOL.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_temperature_is_considered_high_and_medium_in_an_oven


But anything over 110 is frankly ridiculous, IMO, and too hot for man or beast. Yet the desert resort town in which I live does a booming business in European tourists during August. That's when they get time off, so that's when they come here. Beats me.
Click to expand...

I never said it gets that hot, I said it FEELS that hot. :waitasec:

We get to around 120 where I live and you literally do not go outside.

It is like a wall of heat hitting you, exactly like your oven when you open the door.

If you've never experienced that type of dry baking heat (days of it without end) you can't quite appreciate it. It is almost enough to send you mad.

What this father did was equivalent to leading his boy into a furnace...clearly without water too, otherwise the child would not have died.
 
SapphireSteel said:
I never said it gets that hot, I said it FEELS that hot. :waitasec:

We get to around 120 where I live and you literally do not go outside.

It is like a wall of heat hitting you, exactly like your oven when you open the door.

If you've never experienced that type of dry baking heat (days of it without end) you can't quite appreciate it. It is almost enough to send you mad.

What this father did was equivalent to leading his boy into a furnace...clearly without water too, otherwise the child would not have died.
Click to expand...

My mistake. I'm sorry I misquoted you.

I live in the desert, too, however. I think the record here is 123.

I saw a sign at a local store: "Open until 5pm or 110 degrees." I thought that was about right.
 
I feel like I'm going to die in 90 degree weather. 118 is out of the question. You would find me in the refrigerator.
 
legalmania said:
I feel like I'm going to die in 90 degree weather. 118 is out of the question. You would find me in the refrigerator.
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It takes some getting used to, alright.

The real bad times are when it doesn't quit, heats up and stays hot for a week or even two, and stays hot at night. Then it is really a struggle even for me, even with a/c, and I love the heat.

Up where this happened, it stays hot like that for 3 months in a row. It literally would be like strolling into the jaws of hell.

This guy needs shooting. I would almost call this murder, it is that insane of an act.

:cow:
 
SapphireSteel said:
It takes some getting used to, alright.

The real bad times are when it doesn't quit, heats up and stays hot for a week or even two, and stays hot at night. Then it is really a struggle even for me, even with a/c, and I love the heat.

Up where this happened, it stays hot like that for 3 months in a row. It literally would be like strolling into the jaws of hell.

This guy needs shooting. I would almost call this murder, it is that insane of an act.

:cow:
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I was raised in the humidity capital, Florida, and when it got 90 there it would just suck the life out of me. I wouldn't go shopping, it would take a village to get me to go hiking. Is it normal to go hiking in that neck of the world?
 
legalmania said:
I feel like I'm going to die in 90 degree weather. 118 is out of the question. You would find me in the refrigerator.
Click to expand...
I agree with you there. In recent years it's been getting hotter and hotter here in the high desert during the summer months due to global warming. Add to that my intolerance to heat due to menopause and some scripts that I now take, and for almost 3 months I can barely do anything (no a/c). And I don't even think we ever hit 100 degrees.

I can't even imagine what this father was thinking. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to feel the heat and then deduce that it's too hot to exert yourself- let alone force a child to. And in addition to a hike in extreme heat, the boy had asthma! Unless the father is mentally challenged, he most certainly should be brought up on charges of manslaughter. At the very least, he should never again be allowed to be alone with children since his judgment is so incredibly poor. :(
 
Cracka*Jaxx said:
I agree with you there. In recent years it's been getting hotter and hotter here in the high desert during the summer months due to global warming. Add to that my intolerance to heat due to menopause and some scripts that I now take, and for almost 3 months I can barely do anything (no a/c). And I don't even think we ever hit 100 degrees.

I can't even imagine what this father was thinking. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to feel the heat and then deduce that it's too hot to exert yourself- let alone force a child to. And in addition to a hike in extreme heat, the boy had asthma! Unless the father is mentally challenged, he most certainly should be brought up on charges of manslaughter. At the very least, he should never again be allowed to be alone with children since his judgment is so incredibly poor. :(
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Well in all fairness I think the father has suffered the ultimate price already. I suffer with asthma. Maybe he's the kind of father that's thinks his son should suck it up. I hope he has leaned a big lesson, not all kids are ready to take on adult activities.
 
legalmania said:
I feel like I'm going to die in 90 degree weather. 118 is out of the question. You would find me in the refrigerator.
Click to expand...

I remember a summer of 8 days over 100 when I used to live in the burbs of Chicago. 108 being the highest. Had to buy a room AC and the whole family lived in that room. Can't imagine 118. Now I live in Fl. where it never gets above 100 or it never has in the 23yrs I've been here.
 
TrackerSam said:
I remember a summer of 8 days over 100 when I used to live in the burbs of Chicago. 108 being the highest. Had to buy a room AC and the whole family lived in that room. Can't imagine 118. Now I live in Fl. where it never gets above 100 or it never has in the 23yrs I've been here.
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I was in New York when it was ninety and I didn't feel as hot as I did in Fl. I think the humidity in Fl makes you sweat so you feel like it's a lot hotter. I'm just not a fan of the heat without beaches. I was one of the first people to have an AC because of my breathing problems. My father bought me one as a little girl. The kids in the neighborhood thought I was a spoiled brat while they played in the heat I was in the air. I would have gladly traded places with them.
 
The first time we visited Palm Springs we went hiking in the middle of the day in 114-degree heat. We weren't being macho; we just didn't know any better.

(I got so dehydrated that my skin broke out and began to literally fall off my arms. I've since learned that sun screen and moisturizer aren't enough: you have to hydrate from within.)

Legalmania, there is some truth to the "it's a dry heat" claim. 90 degrees here is nothing compared to 90 degrees in Tallahassee. And desert nights tend to cool off quickly.

But we do get some humidity in July and August which holds the heat and keeps it from cooling off at night. Then we stay indoors and use the a.c.
 
You wouldn't take a dog out in heat like that. Literally.

Heat like that kills. The young and the old are most at risk.

They were up in the back of beyond. It would probably be an 8 hr flight to the nearest hospital. They may as well have been on the moon.
 
I also wonder how long the father had lived in Aus. If it was longer than a week, he's a grade A moron and needs to go to jail for this. That area is a notorious oven in summer, and the heat conditions for WA were all over the news on Christmas day. The weather's been at a steady 32-38+C or thereabouts all this week - he had to know it was too hot for hiking! Especially with a son who had come from snow weather to Aus.. adjusting to that sudden heat hike is awful!

Criminal neglect, IMO. My heart hurts for his family, what a Christmas..
 
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