It has been revealed that Fire and Rescue services across the country are responding to a significant number of incidents involving obese people. These so-called bariatric incidents, which often require specialist equipment, are proving very costly both in terms of time and money.
The new data, obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests sent to all 49 Fire and Rescue services in the UK, have shown that UK fire services have responded to 15,849 bariatric incidents since 2020 – the equivalent of attending one bariatric rescue every 3 hours and 20 minutes.
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service has the fourth highest number
Of the Fire and Rescue services that replied to the FOI request, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service recorded the fourth-highest number of bariatric incidents, with 747 since 2020. Of these 747 incidents, 145 were recorded in 2024, which marked an 84% increase from 2020.
A representative from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service commented: “These incidents (bariatric) can often be complex and require additional equipment… (however) our firefighters are equipped with specialist training, equipment and safe systems of work to reach a successful outcome.”
The data, obtained by ZAVA – one of the UK’s leading online medical providers – showed that the most bariatric incidents were reported by the London Fire Brigade.
Perhaps most significantly, of the 2,677 bariatric incidents that the London Fire Brigade have responded to between 2009 and 2025, 76% of these have occurred since 2020, indicating a sharp escalation in recent years.
Bariatric rescues are complex and demand specialist skill and equipment
Bariatric rescues are often more complex and time-consuming than other rescues due to the use of specialised equipment, and since 2020, Fire and Rescue services have spent a total in excess of one year (384.5 days) on the scene of such incidents.
One firefighter explained: “Bariatric casualties fundamentally change the complexity of a rescue. What would normally be a simple lift becomes a high-risk operation requiring structured systems of work, rope and line operations, and significantly more time. The greatest immediate risk is the strain placed on firefighters’ backs. Jobs that would be straightforward with a casualty of a healthier weight become physically damaging and exhausting.”
And it isn’t only firefighters’ backs that are suffering as a result. The additional cost of responding to such incidents is huge, with the London Fire Brigade alone spending over £1 million since 2020 responding to bariatric incidents.
Tom, 30, a firefighter with the London Fire Brigade, shared their experience with a bariatric rescue: “A single bariatric rescue required five fire engines, multiple Fire Rescue Units, a command unit, senior officers, police, four ambulances, a specialist bariatric ambulance, and a London Ambulance Service Incident Response Unit. This was an enormous mobilisation for a single patient.”
“We were on scene for around ten hours. We had to remove a ground-floor balcony, take out three French doors, build a ramp capable of supporting his weight, and set up a line system to lower him down the verge to the road gently.”
“The sheer number of resources tied up on this job (fire, ambulance, and police) reduced emergency cover across London and likely came at a huge cost to the taxpayer.”
The trend looks to be going down again
The number of annual callouts to bariatric incidents increased 76% between 2020 and 2024, rising from 1,804 incidents in 2020 to 3,183 in 2024. Despite this significant increase since 2020, the data did reveal a 13% reduction in bariatric incidents occurring nationally between 2022 and 2024.
Crystal Wyllie, a doctor at ZAVA, said: “Obesity is an epidemic across the world, but within the UK, we can see a natural impact that bariatric care has not only on the NHS, but also on other public services such as fire and rescue services.
First responders have to deal with a tremendous amount of stress on a day-to-day basis, but adding difficult callouts for bariatric patients risks their health and safety when manual handling pushes the physical limits of responders.”
Dr Wyllie added, “This decrease (between 2022 and 2024) in bariatric incidents is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Whilst the downward trend in bariatric incidents since 2022 is encouraging, with more than six in ten adults in the UK being overweight or living with obesity, it seems bariatric incidents are likely to remain commonplace for fire and rescue services across the UK.
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