An obese woman in need of medical attention was rescued from her second-story apartment in East Harlem by New York City firefighters who had a net that could hold her nearly 800lb body.

City paramedics arrived at the woman’s apartment on 111th Street around 1.15pm and quickly realized that she was too large to fit through the front door of the dwelling.

The emergency workers were able to treat the woman but they called in the firefighters so she could be removed from the apartment and taken to St Luke’s Hospital.