Number of obese people rescued by fire service rises

According to figures obtained by BBC Radio 5 live, the number of obese people being rescued by the fire service because they are too large to move on their own has increased by over a third since 2013.

The data showed there had been over 900 incidents in the UK over the past year, with rescuers resorting to the use of lifting equipment and removing windows, walls and banisters to free the critically overweight.

The type of rescue, also called ‘bariatric’ rescues, involves aiding severely obese people who have become trapped in their homes, have increased from 807 in 2013-12 to 944 in 2015-16.

Chris Jones, watch manager from South Wales Fire Service, which carried out the highest number of rescues last year, said: “Some of these incidents have become protracted overnight while we've needed to change certain elements to the building to make that rescue safe before we can bring the patient out.

"If we are doing what we call an external rescue where we're taking the patient out through a window, quite commonly we'll remove the window frame itself and we will actually sometimes drop courses of brickwork down to create that space.

"Internally we might have to take doors off, move furniture, we may even have to put supporting systems into the house to make sure everything's structurally sound as well."

In an interview with BBC Radio 5, Tam Fry, from the charity National Obesity Forum, said: "This is not about more people being obese. This is about those who are already obese now getting to a size where they now need assistance."

"Senior doctors I speak to say there are many people who don't leave their homes so they don't even put themselves in a position where they may need to be rescued.

"They are scared of being seen in public."