Father says his baby got second-degree burns at splash pad in Seattle park



SEATTLE -- A father said he had to race his son to the hospital after the toddler suffered serious burns to his feet while playing at a Seattle park.

And he wants to warn parents so they don't have to go through the same situation.

Andrew Sechrist says his 1-year-old son suffered second-degree burns at a splash park.

“I’ve been through hell the last 24 hours,” he said Friday.

He says he heard his son crying while playing at the splash pad at the Georgetown Playfield Thursday. He says his first thought was that his son fell down, but that wasn’t the case.

“His feet were white, the skin, they had basically melted. He had second-degree burns on the bottom of his feet,” said Sechrist.

Sechrist says he realized his son walked across a metal grate.

Q13 News tested the temperature of the grate around the same time of day as when the incident happened. The temperature of the grate reached about 130 degrees.

“Just putting my hand on here like that, I can’t keep it here for half a second, and my 1 1/2-year-old son walked across."

Sechrist says his son had to go to two different hospitals. The little boy also had to spend the night at the hospital. Now, he has to wear bandages that go up to the bottom of his knees for the next 10 to 15 days.

“If I could switch places with him, I would in a heartbeat,” said Sechrist.

Sechrist spoke to Q13 News about 24 hours after the incident happened. He said the reason he is talking is to make people aware and hopefully bring about a change.

“Hopefully that someone from the city of Seattle knows that it happened and can fix it,” he said.

Q13 News reached out to city officials about this incident.

They say they don’t have any warning signs posted about the grates, or plans to make any changes to the park at this point.