Stickers at Florida gas stations warn about kids, pets in hot cars
TALLAHASSEE - As heat advisories continue, motorists fueling up across the state will soon see stickers on gas pumps warning against leaving children and pets in vehicles.
"This time of year, when all of our families are getting back to school, and we know that everybody is busy changing schedules, we want to make sure that people are removing their pets out of these cars, that they're moving their kids out of these cars," Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said Friday.
Simpson's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services oversees the regulation of gas pumps. The stickers were an idea of Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey.
"It goes back to just a constant reminder to make sure that you're not doing it (leaving children and pets in hot vehicles)," Ivey said. "Again, we all, you know (say), 'I'm just gonna run in the store for a moment. I'm going to be right back out.' And then something happens that you're in there longer than you anticipate."
A 2016 Florida law allows bystanders to break the windows of vehicles to rescue pets or vulnerable people believed to be in danger from the heat.