Death, Fire and Other Dangers of the Heat in Texas
67The Bastrop fire disaster, September 2011
Bastrop fire disaster location
Bastrop, Texas - Buy fire fighting equipment today!
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Deadly heat in Texas
Wildfires from lit Cigarettes
The most annoying thing that stupid people do in Texas (and probably everywhere else too) is to flick lit cigarettes out of their car windows. The big red signs proclaiming “Burning Ban” don’t seem to register in your brain cells. Perhaps you cannot read at all. You are just that ignorant.
Texans live in fear every single day that a wild fire will start here in the Hill Country. My family, home, my pets, my very life are all at the mercy of you and your smoking habit. I’m getting ready to stock eggs and water balloons in my car so that I have something to throw at you and your stinking, polluting, dangerous lit cigarettes.
I used to smoke. I know how addicting it is. However, I NEVER threw out a lit cigarette butt. I kept a cup with some water in it and I put my fags out in the cup. When I stop for gas, I always clean out my car. When I smoked, I would take out the cup of cigarette butts, dump it in the trash can provided by every gas station in the world, rinse it out and add fresh water to the cup, then put it back in the cup holder for the next time I felt the need to suck in some more nicotine.
Einstein once said,
“There are two things that are infinite – the universe and human stupidity and I’m not sure about the first one.”
Dead Babies
It’s always amazing to turn on the news in Texas in the summer and hear about someone leaving their infant child in the car in the parking lot while they go to their office. Eight hours later, they come back to a dead baby. And we say, “How stupid is that?” In this state, we don’t have much sympathy for the parent.
Fatal Exercise
Folks, it’s over 100 degrees during the day here! Do you just not notice the heat? Joggers are seen every day out on the trails at high noon. Are you all insane? Is the Texas sun just nature’s way of getting rid of stupid people? Well, it is doing a darn good job, that’s for sure.
The Sun Burns
Another thing that I find disturbing is the number of people being sunburned. This one doesn’t bother me too much as the punishment fits the crime unless you are leaving your children or pets out in the sun all day. Just the other day, a swimmer out in the lake stayed in the water so long he actually developed 2nd degree burns and blisters. Wow, what a way to have fun!
Stupid Drivers
I know that someday, this drought and unbearable heat will cease and desist. Until the floods come, again and once again nature takes care of stupid people by washing them down the creeks with numerous flash floods. I’ve seen the mangled bodies. What in the hell is so important that you need to drive through rushing water? Here’s a catchy slogan for you: “Turn around, don’t drown.”
Pay Attention!
Now stop what you are doing and smarten up. Be aware of your surroundings, do not throw fire out of your windows, do not leave your kids in the car, do not torture your pets and LEARN TO READ!
Are you stupid or smart?
Have you ever thrown a lit cigarette out of your car window?
See results without votingWhat would you do if you saw someone throwing a lit cigarette out of their window?
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Comments - Yes, I know this is a rant. Feel free to vent here in the comments section...Loading...
This summer I have had to call the police twice...once when I saw a small dog in a car with all the windows rolled up and the outside temperature was over 110 degrees!! I stayed long enough for animal control come and rescue the poor dog...the owner never did come...the second time was when a baby was locked in a car...at least this time the window was rolled down a little bit...and it was a convenience store so the "mom" was back in just a few minutes...but the temperature was still way over 100 degrees...when I was calling the police I was looking in the window...the mom got upset with me because I was too close to her car...she never mentioned the baby...I kept her yelling at me long enough for the police to arrive...(she had at least opened the door by this time) I believe the woman had a warrant, because she was cuffed and put in the police car and another officer came and took the baby...people can be idiots!
It's true! And every year in Texas there is usually a few dead children and/or pets found dead in a car. Thank you for calling the police. Child endangerment is a viable charge to hold parents on when they leave the kids in the car.
People should realize that cars are extremely dangerous whether moving or non-moving. Smarten up people!
Babies, toddlers and animals left in cars with the windows rolled up in this heat "cook" same as if they were in a 200 degree oven at home. I can't even imagine what that feels like, but it's the method of execution that should be used on those who leave their kids or animals in closed up cars on a hot day. Perhaps posters with a baby or Fido in a roasting pan inside an oven would get the idea across.
Back in the 50's, moms left their kids in the car all the time, but the windows were down, and no perverts tried to take us and no criminals tried to steal the car.
Times change.
BTW, Austinstar, I like your new avatar.
It is not just ordinary people who are stupid.
We have had two incidents, in the last couple of years, of policemen leaving their police dogs in their cars during heatwaves. The dogs died. One cop got sacked. The other one's case is still pending.
I tell ya, questions like these should be on the driver's license test and if you can't pass the test, one should not be allowed to get near a car.
Thank you Will, it's my favorite photo of me whilst attending a class on manicures. The students wanted to work on my hair and I had the perfect haircut for once in my life. I was also asked to demo the flaming red hair color. Good times.
Great rant! This present heat wave in Texas is scary. People need to take precautions so that people do not necessarily die of consequences such as the ones you listed. I also like your new avatar with photo.
No written test will weed out stupidity-on-the-fly. Cops leaving dogs in a car during a heatwave is the proof. I hope the second cop also gets sacked...after being locked in a hot car for an hour or two.
Definitely the cops should have known better. But still, how incredibly stupid do you have to be to leave a baby in a car seat for 8 hours? Seriously? These people should be kicked out of the gene pool.
Out of the gene pool! YES! The sad part is they wouldn't have left a baby at home unattended for 8 hours, where it had a much better chance of surviving. Oh no. That would be neglect and/or child endangerment. Hello....
Idiots are all over the place, here too. We have a casino and people are constantly leaving their children in their locked cars for hours to go gamble. What the hell is going through their minds doing stuff like this.
Sometimes I have to equate stupidity with selfishness. I think they may be one and the same.
All great points - I have 3 kids - and over 23 years never once have I forgot and left one in the car (or my pets!) I have no sympathy for anyone who does that. Self absorbed to the point you forget your child? Or choose to leave them in a hot car? Someone should put the adult in the hot car and leave them in it for a while.
Throwing the smokes out the window in Texas? Do you have a concealed carry law there? Just asking:).
Yeppers, you can assume that all Texans are packing. We do have a concealed weapon law and better than that we can carry rifles in the back window of our pick-up trucks. Concealing the 6-pack is optional. (Just kidding).
I was just reading about the latest 2 cases of child deaths by hot cars and neither parent had to go to jail over it. It's just a tragic accident when you leave a kid in the car apparently. Personally, I think they should be locked up in the car along with their dead child until the parent suffers the same fate. Kind of like a public hanging.
Oh well. I'm just cynical that way.
No I totally agree - Mick told me about a case in AR a couple years back - two guys left the kids in car seats to go do drugs - I won't tell you the details it haunts me still. They should have shut those men up in a car like they so carelessly did to those infants. And how can you accidentally walk away from your car with your baby in it???? I wonder how subconsciously accidental those things are at times. Oh ? Was I being a cynic? Yep!
How 'bout school bus drivers that "accidentally" leave a small child in a closed-up bus all day? Happened recently in OKC, I think. The child didn't die, but was severely dehydrated and required an overnight stay in the hospital. At least in such cases, the drivers are either suspended or fired. Not prosecuting parents who sentence babies to a horrible death in a hot car is a huge miscarriage of justice!
You know the saying, "Let the punishment fit the crime?" Anyone who causes harm to a child or pet by leaving them to suffer being locked in an insanely hot car, should be sentenced to that same treatment.
Hey Austin,
Great points about stupid things people do. The sad thing is that some of these things will still keep happening . . . hope you are staying cool!
Sharyn
The heat wave, in Oklahoma at least, is supposed to break sometime this weekend. Highs "only" in the mid-90s, but after months of 105+, that 10 degrees will definitely be welcome. Rain would be even better, considering the wildfires that have been destroying home around OKC for the last 3 days.
I understand TX has several out-of-control, heat-related wildfires, too. A huge system of thunderstorms would be a godsend for both states - as long as there are no tornadoes in them.
Having lived in Phoenix for 20+ years, this all sounds too familiar (how about picking up coins that you left on the dashboard of your car in the heat?!)Thought I had escaped all of that when I moved to OK . . . then got fried in the heatwave summer of 2010!
Love your hub! The only thing I would add is the choice "All of the above" in your second poll :)
I'm just hoping we'll never have another drought like last year ever again.
marellen Level 6 Commenter 9 months ago
People are just plain stupid when it comes to heat. Leaving a baby or pet in your car and all the other things you mentioned is not a hard concept.