By Kurt Knue

MANSFIELD, Ohio (WLWT) -- Police in central Ohio say that a 5-year-old boy is dead after being left alone in a hot car on Thursday.

According to the Mansfield Police Department, officers were called to the scene of an assisted living residence on Wood Street around 3:15 p.m. for a report of an unconscious child.

It's unclear how long the boy was in the car for, although police said it appeared likely that he was in there for at least several hours.

According to Kids and Car Safety, a group dedicated to monitoring and preventing heat-related deaths of children nationwide, it is the first death of the year to be reported in Ohio of a child being trapped in a car. Meanwhile, it is the ninth across the country so far this year that the group has recorded.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an average of 37 children die in the U.S. every year from heat-related deaths after being left alone in cars.

Cars often act as heat magnets in the summer, causing heat from the sun to penetrate through a car's windows and become trapped inside the vehicle. The NHTSA says that temperatures inside vehicles can reach over 115 degrees if left outside in the sun all day in 70-degree weather.

Temperatures have been reaching highs in the upper 80s and lower 90s across the state of Ohio this week.

The identity of the child has not yet been released.

Local police are continuing to investigate the incident.

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