FIREFIGHTERS used an aerial ladder to lift a sick man out his home after paramedics struggled to get him out of the building due to his weight. 

Paramedics were called around 7.10pm last night to William Collier House in North Road, Brighton, after a man was taken unwell. 

Two ambulances and two fast response vehicles attended the scene. 

But paramedics struggled to lift the man out of the building. 

A fire engine and an aerial ladder vehicle were then called around 8.45pm to assist in evacuating the man from the building. 

The man was transferred to a stretcher before being taken down from the first floor by the aerial platform. 

One police car also attended. 

Residents and passers-by watched on in shock. 

One resident said: "There are always police and ambulances here. 

"But I haven't seen as many as this before. 

"I believe it is a very big gentleman they are helping."

Another resident Mickey Maynard, 23, said: "I'm not surprised what is happening here in the slightest. 

"Pretty much there is always emergency services about."

Preston Circus station manager Chris Baker said: "We were called to assist South East Coast Ambulance Service with a bariatric patient, so we supported them getting the patient out of the room into an ambulance. 

"Due to the patient's size and his weight, it was safer for him to come out on a basket stretcher out the window."