Fire chiefs are being forced to spend tens of thousands of pounds on equipment so they can help get obese people out of their homes.

The situation has arisen because West Yorkshire firefighters are getting an increasing number of calls for help from the ambulance service.

The West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority now plans to spend £32,000 over the next two years on lifting equipment for people who are too obese or infirm to stand for themselves.

Dr Duncan Newton, clinical director of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said he was "appalled" that the situation had developed.

He said: "At the hospital we encourage our own staff to exercise and provide two gymnasiums. We are also a hospital that for some time has been following a no-smoking policy. If someone is too heavy to lift from a room then you need specialised lifting equipment.

"I think it is an appalling decision to have to make but that is one for the fire and rescue authority."

Mark Wilson, West Yorkshire secretary for the Fire Brigades' Union, said he would welcome any equipment which would aid staff.

"If there are insufficient ambulance personnel to handle an individual safely the ambulance service will request assistance from the fire service," he said. "Obviously, with an individual of significant size there is a manual-handling issue.

"But these incidents are still very isolated. If they occur, we will now be better equipped to deal with them."

Craig McIntosh, West York-shire Fire Brigade's area manager for operations, admitted the incidents were on the rise.

"Increasingly, we are receiving calls from social services and the West Yorkshire Metro-politan Ambulance Service where they are having difficulty getting an individual out of a building. We need the training and equipment in place to deal with such incidents."

A West Yorkshire fire authority spokesman said: "We are a fire and rescue authority, not just a fire service. Sometimes we are called on to move patients - occasionally individuals may be large or infirm.

"At the moment we do not really have the equipment to deal with that kind of patient."

The plans come only weeks after Bradford was branded the "fattest" city in the UK in a national survey.

Too much alcohol, takeaway food and television and not enough exercise were all blamed for the city being awarded top spot in a league table of shame compiled by a men's magazine.

The survey showed Brad-ford's obesity rate had risen from 14.1 per cent in 2003 to a hefty 22.2 per cent this year.