Austrian crematorium officials have blamed a deceased woman's obesity for causing a blaze which had to be tackled by firefighters.

　　Firemen in the southern city of Graz were covered in thick sticky soot as they tried to prevent the blaze from taking hold of the building

　　Some countries such as Switzerland and the UK already have facilities which cater for extra large bodies, in line with the growing trend of expanding waistlines.

　　Speaking to the Daily Mail online, funeral director Christea Bogdan, of Gillman Undertakers, Tooting, south London, said he had never before in his career heard of such an event.

　　'I have never come across such a case,' he said.

　　An expert report on the Austria fire has revealed that the woman being cremated weighed more than 200kg - or 31st 7lbs - and her size had caused the oven to overheat.

　　The press reports state that the filter temperature reached300C and officials realised there was a problem when thick black smoke started billowing into the building.

　　The device was immediately switched off but by then there was already a fire in the filter.

　　Firemen whose clothing was left covered with a layer of greasy black soot were snapped as they tackled the difficult to extinguish blaze in special breathing gear to avoid breathing in the fumes.

　　In the end they had to bring the fire under control by sending a blast of water in through the vents used to clear the filter. Repair work took several days during which time the crematorium was out of action.

　　Firemen said that after reports of similar problems at other cemeteries not only in Austria but also in Switzerland, officials were now are considering a ban on larger bodies.

　　Graz-based fireman Otto Widetschek said: 'Crematorium officials need to be more responsible and not just automatically put everybody in to be cremated.'

　　He said that in Switzerland there were moves now to make sure that XXL bodies were routinely shipped to a special crematorium able to deal with the extra heat caused by larger bodies.

　　奧地利格拉茨市火葬場日前發生火災，出動消防隊才將大火撲滅，導致火災的原因竟然是一名超級肥胖的女性死者。

　　據英國《每日郵報》5日報道，這名死者體重超過200公斤，因為她體內脂肪過多，導致焚化爐溫度不斷攀升，最終釀成火災。火葬場負責人表示，在焚化該死者時，焚化爐溫度升至攝氏300℃。隨後，滾滾黑煙從焚化爐噴出，操作間發生大火。火葬工立即關閉了焚化設施，但大火已經失控，火葬場不得不撥打火警求救。

　　及時趕到的消防隊員配備了特殊防護面具及防護服，幾經週折後選擇從通風口灌水滅火，好不容易才控制住火勢。消防隊員的防護服上沾滿了油脂燃燒後的黑煙灰。據估計，焚化爐的維修需要數天時間。

　　當地消防隊員奧托説：“火葬場應對此負責，不能不加區分地將所有死者隨意推入焚化爐。”也有人呼籲設置火葬死者的體重上限。據悉，不少歐洲國家專門為肥胖死者提供超大號焚化爐。