NEW YORK -- Parents of children burned by hot playground equipment are criticizing the parks department.

Surfaces have reached 166 degrees in the hot weather over the last week or so. Burns happen easily with any temperatures over 140 degrees, according to park authorities.

Two children have suffered burns already.

City Council hearings were held on the problem about a year and a half ago, but Geoffrey Croft, of NYC Park Advocates, said they did no good and that this is a citywide problem.

Eighteen-month-old William Casson was burned at Catbird Playground in Carl Schurz Park.

The flooring on the equipment itself is hot, but it's not dangerously hot, authorities told News 4 New York. It's when the kids climb down to the bottom and touch the rubber mat that can be scalding.

Kian Mehran-Lodge, 5, had his feet seared at a park in Brooklyn a few years ago. The parks department said parents need to ensure their children are wearing shoes at all times.

"He was wearing shoes in the sprinkler .. but his caregiver removed those shoes to rinse him off after he was done playing and at that moment he ran a few steps to this material," said Reyhan Mehran, Kian's mother. "She was right behind him ... he stepped on it with one foot, then the other. She immediately picked him up because he started screaming."

Parents said at the very least, the parks department should post clear signs near the mats, and eventually replace them with a safer, cooler material.