text: The scene looks as though there has been a disaster. In what was likened to a ‘military operation’ a pair of cranes struggle to retrieve a ‘casualty’ from a house, while fire engines, police, a medical team and other officials stand by. The immediate area is screened from the public gaze with tarpaulin. Roads are cordoned off. No traffic can get to nearby schools. For seven hours, there is a state of ‘mayhem’. Yet it was no sudden catastrophic incident, as some witnesses imagined. This was simply what it took to remove a 22-year-old woman who weighs 55st from her home. Scroll down for video . Obese Georgia Davis, 22, who weighs 55 stone, had to be lifted out of her home in Aberdare, south Wales, by a crane so emergency services could take her to hospital . The seven-hour operation involved two cranes, seven police cars, two fire engines and 11 medics . Georgia Davis is an extreme manifestation of the obesity epidemic afflicting young people in Britain. She is 5ft 6in tall but exists on a 13,000-calorie-a-day binge of takeaways and junk food which has rendered her immobile. The source of her income to finance her intake is unclear. ‘Britain’s fattest woman’, as she has been described, eats to excess because she wants to and has done so since the age of five. Periodically, her bloated body can take it no more and she has to be removed to hospital for treatment. That is what happened in the village of Cwmaman, on the edge of Aberdare, on Wednesday. It is the second time in three years the emergency services have been summoned to free her from her self-inflicted prison. On the first occasion they had to demolish part of her parents’ house. Since then she has been given a specially adapted ground-floor flat with French doors opening onto the street. This was to allow easier access for the next inevitable medical emergency. And so it came to pass. Largely bedridden for the past fortnight because of water retention, Georgia developed a ‘severe infection’ which required hospital treatment. But she had become too big and weak to move. Calling the ambulance meant a major logistical operation which must have cost thousands of pounds in manpower and equipment hire . he first crane proved not strong enough to lift the patient. A larger crane had to be summoned which necessitated closing half-a-mile of the main road for an hour . For other individuals, this would at worst have been a question of calling an ambulance. In Georgia’s extraordinary case it meant a major logistical operation which must have cost thousands of pounds in manpower and equipment hire. Her extraction began a little after 9am. Three nurses from the local hospital and a paramedic arrived outside Georgia’s block of flats in a convoy of cars. They were to prepare her for the move. Soon afterwards, the medical team was joined by a fire officer, whose job it was to assess the dimensions and route of the removal. He decided the special French doors would have to be entirely removed. The first police officers and an ambulance arrived at 10am, according to neighbours. At 11.30am, two fire tenders pulled up followed by a mobile crane, an essential piece of equipment when lifting a 55st woman on a reinforced stretcher. At midday, three police cars arrived. They would be joined in the afternoon by another four. One resident reported: ‘It’s absolute chaos, there’s 999 vehicles everywhere and dozens of emergency service workers. All the roads are shut.’ And still the operation had not begun. At 2.30pm, the critical care medical team arrived in an SUV. By the time the first attempt to remove Georgia began an hour later, there were more than a dozen emergency vehicles outside the flats and in the car park at the back. Soon, a serious problem became apparent. The first crane proved not strong enough to lift the patient. A larger crane had to be summoned which necessitated closing half-a-mile of the main road for an hour. By the time it arrived, eyewitnesses estimated the number of specialists in attendance to be as many as 40. You may wonder why and what else was happening elsewhere in South Wales that might have more usefully held their attention. One neighbour said: ‘I thought the flats were on fire, there were so many vehicles. The road was totally blocked, it was absolute mayhem.’ Largely bedridden for the past fortnight because of water retention, Georgia (pictured left and right) developed a ‘severe infection’ which required hospital treatment. But she had become too big and weak to move . Georgia blamed her initial bingeing on ‘comfort eating’ following the death of her father from emphysema when she was little . Georgia was finally removed seven hours after the procedure began. She was taken in a reinforced ambulance to Royal Glamorgan hospital, where she is expected to remain for weeks. It was claimed that she had recently begun eating salads in order to lose weight. But as one neighbour, Anita Coolney, reportedly pointed out: ‘Georgia may be having salads, but she is having takeaways too. I’ve seen them being delivered. What’s the good of having salad for lunch if you have an 18in pizza for tea?’ Another was reported to have said: ‘I can’t eat as much in a week as she eats in a day. It’s disgusting.’ A spokesman for Cwm Taf University Health Board said: ‘We can confirm that the fire service was brought in to assist us with access to a property in order to safely transport a patient into hospital.’ South Wales Police, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service all refused to comment on the cost of the operation. Social landlord RCT homes, which owns Georgia’s flat, also refused to comment. Her mother Lesley, who has weighed as much as 31st, must also take a good deal of the blame. She had fed baby Georgia condensed milk and potatoes instead of baby food . A spokesman for the Welsh Ambulance Service said: ‘We attended a joint operation with colleagues from Cwm Taf University Health Board, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, the Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service, and South Wales Police to assist in the transportation of a patient to hospital. ‘This involved nine personnel from Welsh Ambulance Service and two from EMRTS. The operation started with preparation on site at 9.15am and our staff left the scene at 4pm.’ Georgia first came to national attention in 2008 when, aged 15, she had a 64in waist and weighed 33st. She also had Type 2 diabetes. She said: ‘I know it’s partly my fault. But it’s so hard to stop eating. It’s like a drug. Some people choose heroin but I’ve chosen food and it’s killing me. It’s as if I can hear Greggs [the bakers] calling me.’ She blamed her initial bingeing on ‘comfort eating’ following the death of her father from emphysema when she was little. At seven she weighed 11st. As a teenager her daily intake included multi-packs of crisps, litre bottles of fizzy drinks, chips and sausages. She was banned from her school canteen for over-eating. She had stopped attending PE lessons long before. At home, she watched television, surfed the internet and, of course, ate. And ate. Her mother Lesley, who has weighed as much as 31st, must also take a good deal of the blame. She had fed baby Georgia condensed milk and potatoes instead of baby food. Georgia was sent to a ‘fat camp’ in the U.S. after doctors warned she would die if she didn’t lose 20st. In nine months there she lost 14st 6lb as she took regular exercise and existed on 1,500 calories a day. But she was welcomed home with fish and chips and within 20 months was back up to 40st. Crisis point was reached in 2012, by which time the 19-year-old was eating seven kebabs in one sitting and had reached a weight of 63st. It is the second time in three years the emergency services have been summoned to free her from her self-inflicted prison. She also had to be rescued from her home in 2012 in a similar operation . During that incident, a 40-strong team of emergency service personnel and engineers laboured for eight hours to remove her from her bedroom at the housing association home she shared with her mother and stepfather . A 40-strong team of emergency service personnel and engineers laboured for eight hours to remove her from her bedroom at the housing association home she shared with her mother and stepfather. Georgia had collapsed with breathing problems and chest pains. The rescuers had to demolish the top half of the semi and build a scaffold in order to support a ramp to the pavement. Roof supports had to be inserted and she was lifted onto a special stretcher using a crane. Again a reinforced ambulance took her to hospital. The operation, including repairs, was costed at £100,000. Such scenes will be repeated if more is not done to tackle obesity, say campaigners. One in three children in the UK is overweight, while one in five is obese. Teenage girls form the majority of the one million or so obese under-18s. National Obesity Forum spokesman Tam Fry said: ‘It is a military operation. It will be an equivalent cost, which the NHS has to pay. ‘There will be many more Georgia Davises who we don’t know about because they are stuck in their houses and cannot get out without being winched out. ‘The NHS has to introduce screening for children and adults and if we don’t do that we are going to find more of this in the future.’ Additional reporting by BEN WILKINSON .
target: 55stone Georgia Davis, 22, was lifted from her home in 7-hour operation .
  First crane was not strong enough to lift her so a larger crane had to be summoned which forced closure of road in Aberdare, south Wales .
  Neighbours thought the 'mayhem' was due to her flats being on fire .
  Bedridden woman taken to hospital by ambulance with 'severe infection’