Fire crews in England deal with obesity callouts every four hours

Firefighters help the ambulance service during a callout to a house in London. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Fire services in England had to help police and ambulance crews move people living with obesity once every four hours in what health organisations called a failure by government to fight the condition.

Figures published by the Home Office show firefighters were called 2,319 times to help police or ambulance services with “bariatric assistance” – coming to the aid of people who are otherwise unable to leave their homes due to serious obesity. This marks an 11% rise on the previous year and a 58% increase on 2020.