NSW Ambulance Wollongong Inspector Matt Sterling said as the weather warmed up, it was important that people remained alert to the symptoms associated with heat exhaustion in themselves or others, especially young children and the elderly.

“Heat can kill so it’s vital that people take precautions and keep hydrated,” he said.

“Paramedics were called to 279 cases of dehydration, and 11 cases of heat exposure, in the Illawarra between December 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018.

“This summer we’re urging people to be alert to the signs of heat related illness which include fatigue, weakness, headache, nausea and vomiting.”

Insp Sterling said it wasn’t only high temperatures, but rapid changes in temperatures, that could lead to problems.

“A lot of the medical problems we see are because of temperature variances – where one day it’s 20 degrees and the next it’s over 30,” he said. “Older people in particular tend to struggle with temperature variations like this.”

Aside from the elderly and children, people who worked outside or who took part in outdoor sport and recreation were at higher risk of heat exposure.

“Seek shade, drink plenty of water and wear protective clothing,” he said. “A good way for people to monitor their levels of hydration is to do the urine test – the darker the urine, the more dehydrated they are.”

And emergency services were still getting called out to kids, and pets, locked in cars.

“Temperatures can be up to 12 degrees hotter in the car than outside, so even on a 25 degree day it can become dangerous inside the car pretty quickly,” Insp Sterling said.

“We’d urge people not to leave kids unattended in a vehicle for any period of time – we’ve been called to incidents where a toddler left in a car has got out of their seatbelt and bumped the central locking with the keys still in the car, and then been trapped.”