Hot slides: How hot is too hot?

A high of 90 degrees was not to be seen anywhere Wednesday in Eastern Iowa but the relentless sun made for slides that could be dangerously hot for children.

An infared thermometer used to measure the slides at Twin Pines Park in Cedar Rapids, Guthridge Park in Hiawatha and Thomas Park in Marion revealed hot slides, with each park having at least one slide with a measured temperature of 130 degrees.

How hot is too hot?

“You take a child and put his or her hand on it and it is 120 degrees for three seconds, the likelihood is that they will have a surgical injury,” said Dr. Larry Helvey, emergency medicine physician at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids. Dr. Helvey said that is why parents are often advised to turn water heaters below 120 degrees because “that temperature is enough to scald children”.

Last month, an 18-month-old Des Moines girl suffered second-degree burns after going down a slide. The girl's mother said the weather that day was about 80 degrees, far from the 100 degree days where people are advised to stay inside because of the heat.

The burgundy-colored slides at Thomas Park in Marion registered the highest temperatures of the three parks with one slide, facing southeast and into the noon sunshine, measuring as high as 158 degrees. Other Thomas Park slides measured between 111 and 137 degrees.

About 100 first-grade students and adults enjoyed the morning at Twin Pines Park. While they ate lunch in the shade, the plastic slides registered between 111 and 133 degrees. One metal slide at the park felt far hotter than the others but the infrared thermometer could not give a reading on metal.

Angie Carlile of Cedar Rapids was at Thomas Park on Wednesday morning. She said she was surprised the slides measured at 158 degrees. Especially as the air temperature was around 80 that hour.

“On a day like today, I wouldn't be that concerned but I will be now,” said Carlile, a mother of two.

Nancy Buss, a mother of four, said her daughter was a victim of a hot slide years before.

“She was probably about five and was on a metal slide,” said Buss, of Cedar Rapids. “She went down it with bare feet and had second-degree burns.”

The playground at Guthridge Park in Hiawatha measured the lowest temperatures, even at 1 p.m. and without any shade on the main playground. No slides were above 130 degrees.

“Our slides are pointing to face the right way and we use lighter colors on it,” said Angie Cole, Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Hiawatha.

Dr. Helvey said any slide above 150 degrees is “way too hot” but that he still worries more about children falling off slides rather than getting burned on them.