Distressed baby freed from car after half an hour

Firefighters and the Automobile Association rescued a distressed baby from a locked car in downtown Hamilton yesterday.

Fire and Emergency northern communications shift manager Jaron Phillips said Hamilton firefighters were called to the incident outside Cash Converters on Barton St at 3.15pm.

Phillips said a caller rang to report a "baby in distress, has been in the car for at least half an hour".

Together with the AA, firefighters managed to unlock a door and get the baby out.

Phillips said it was unclear what happened after that.

It was 21 degrees and partly cloudy in Hamilton yesterday afternoon.

Children can suffer heatstroke in hot cars.

In November 2015 Isaiah Neil was just 8-months-old when he died after being left in a car for several hours outside his grandparents' home in Ruatoki.

Earlier that year a 16-month-old boy died after his mother, a healthcare professional, forgot he was in the car outside her workplace in Dunedin.