700-pound woman rescued from second-floor bathroom

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters Life!) - A 700-pound (318 kg) woman was rescued from her bathroom by firefighters who cut away part of an exterior wall and removed a window before lowering her to the ground, a fire official said on Tuesday.

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

Medical personnel were unable to move her, and so called the city's fire department, which eventually dispatched three fire engines and some 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 in which she was lowered down a specially reinforced ladder to the ground outside, said Battalion Chief Qareeb Bashir.

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.

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

Although firefighters are trained to perform difficult rescues, this provided an unusual challenge, Bashir said.

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