Local glass company hoping to help save pets and children left in hot cars

Breaking a window of a hot car to save a life, would you do it? With summer temps in full swing, one local company is hoping to make that decision easier for people.

Norman Newsome is the owner of Mobile Glass in Austin and Lakeway.

He said he had to do something after hearing story after story of people leaving kids or pets in hot cars. “My love of dogs, I have three Great Danes myself and I do glass and it would be easy for me to help, so I decided to do that.”  

While it's against the law to leave a child or pet in a hot car it still happens.

One weekend in June, Manor Police and the Travis County Sheriff's had to rescue a puppy from a hot car.

“It seems almost every day or few days a new story comes out that an animal or someone possibly loses their life over this or has to be saved  it's just a bad situation,” Newsome said. 

If it comes down to it and someone is questioning whether or not to break a window, he said don't think twice save a life, pet or person. Newsome said always call 911, you'll need a police report or some sort of video or pictures to show there was an incident.

“Once you've taken those steps and made that decision that you're going to break that window, we'll fix it, we'll pay for it. Not just the part, not just the labor, but the whole thing to make it right without any financial responsibility on your end,” he said.
 
With record breaking temperatures in Central Texas, many may not realize how quickly it can heat up vehicles.

Inside, we found temperatures more than 150 degrees, outside some darker cars were getting up to 175 degrees. And it's not just cars to worry about; one of the hottest items FOX 7 found was a slide at a playground at more than 160 degrees.

John, Jonah and Liam Harwell were out at Pease Park beating the heat, but staying away from the playground, “All the toys are 1000 degrees to touch and so they would just scream like crazy so we figured we would just all jump into the splash pad,” John said.

Don't forget about the little feet or paws on the ground, sidewalks were even nearing 140 degree.

While everyone needs to be vigilant during these hot summer months, Newsome said when it comes to saving lives; he will do his part to help. “I just don't want anyone’s dog to die. I don't want anyone’s child to die. If there's something I can do to help, it's a small price on my end really,” he said.

It is against Texas state law to leave a child under seven in a car alone anytime.

It's a misdemeanor and Child Protective Services can be called to investigate.

In Austin, it is illegal to leave an animal in a car and you could face animal cruelty charges and fines.

For more information on Mobile Glass and the #Smash2SaveALife campaign click here.

To contact Mobile Glass, you can call 512-983-4527 for the Austin Location, and 512-240-9121 for the Lakeway location.