Thursday, April 05, 2007

Firemen remove wall to rescue chubby woman

A US woman weighing 700lbs has been rescued from her second-storey bathroom by firefighters, who cut away part of an exterior wall and removed a window before lowering her to the ground.

The woman, identified as Patty Brown, called emergency services in Trenton, New Jersey, late on Monday after falling in the bathroom and being unable to get up.

Medical personnel were unable to move her so they called the city's fire department, which eventually dispatched three fire engines and 25 officers.

After removing part of the bathroom wall, cutting the window down to the floor and taking out the toilet and radiator, firefighters moved her into a rescue basket.

Then she was lowered down a specially reinforced ladder to the ground outside, Battalion Chief Qareeb Bashir said.

With the help of around 10 firefighters, she was then moved on to a stretcher, transferred to an ambulance specially equipped for very large people, and taken to a local hospital.

Ms Brown, who was only slightly injured from her fall, was conscious throughout the five-hour operation, and was "very pleasant," Mr Bashir said.

He said even though firefighters are trained to perform difficult rescues, this provided an unusual challenge.

"This was a very unique situation," he said.

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