More obese people being rescued by West fire crews

Avon Fire and Rescue said it is often using specialist equipment to help ambulance crews move patients

The number of obese people being rescued by one fire service has increased by nearly 50 per cent in the last three years, according to new figures.

Avon Fire and Rescue Service, which covers Bristol, Bath, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, is now carrying out an average of nine "bariatric rescues" a month compared to six a month in 2022.

Increasingly, fire crews using specialist equipment are being called on to help the ambulance service to move patients who weigh more than 20 stone (127 kg).

Natalie Mainstone, the service's community risk management planning manager, said these incidents can often be "protracted and resource intensive" and costly.

The service responded to 50 bariatric rescues between August 2022 and April 2023 which rose to 72 between April 2024 to December 2024 and 73 between January and August 2025, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Categorised as "special service calls" (SSCs), the rise in bariatric call-outs contributed to the service responding to more non-fire related incidents than fires for the first time ever in 2024/25.

In a report to the Avon Fire Authority policy and resources committee, it said crews had attended "more SSCs than false alarms" for the first time, with peaks in incidents coinciding with very hot weather.

'Challenging costs'

A spokesperson for the service, said "while every incident is different", bariatric rescues often involve helping ambulance crews by using specialist equipment to safely move patients.

Ms Mainstone said although the bariatric "threshold" is 20 stone (127 kg) crews may use their equipment for a "particularly challenging extraction".

"We occasionally use the bariatric vehicles for people who are around that threshold, usually due to the circumstances around rescuing them," she said.

"The cost is a challenging one. Those incidents can be quite protracted and resource-intensive."