Mom shares warning after son burns feet on hot playground in NYC

Monday, June 21, 2021

Mother has warning after son burns feet on hot Manhattan playground

Diana Rocco reports on the safety concerns at a playground on the Upper West Side.

UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- There are pressing concerns about the safety of equipment found in schools and parks after a child burned his feet on the scorching rubber mat a playground.

On a hot day, neighborhood kids enjoy the outdoor spray showers at Safari Park, but Sunday that outing turned into a mother's worst nightmare.

"It was like a moment of panic because I didn't know what this meant, I knew it was really bad," Lisa said.

Her 2-year-old son Luke was running to the fountain with dozens of other kids when he suffered second-degree burns on the bottom of his feet.

"It's one of the playgrounds I like most, it's least stress-inducing for me because there are not as many things for him to get hurt," Lisa said.

She had taken off Luke's shoes to shake the sand out when he ran over a hot piece of metal flooring.

"I picked him up and I ran him to the sprinkler to put his feet in the cold water and a mommy at the playground, I was lucky she was a doctor, she identified herself and wanted to help," Lisa said.

Several other parents saw what was going on and jumped in to help, bandaging Luke's feet and getting Lisa into a taxi and to the pediatric burn unit.

"The parents really rallied together to help me and what they didn't know is that I'm an only parent," Lisa said.

Luke now has both feet bandaged until the burns heal but Lisa posted her gratitude to an Upper West Side mothers Facebook page and now wants others to beware.

"I've seen children running around with bare feet on that playground, it can get extremely hot," Lisa said.

A parks department spokesperson told Eyewitness News that shoes should be worn at all times inside their parks and rules and safety tips are posted on signage at Safari Playground and can be found on their website.

Luke's mom hopes this serves as a warning for other parents but says they will be back at the playground soon.

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