Flames tear through assisted-living facility in Massachusetts, killing 9 and trapping residents

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Flames roared through an assisted-living facility in Massachusetts, killing nine people and trapping residents inside, including some who leaned out of windows and screamed for help, authorities said Monday. At least 30 people were hurt.

A firefighters union said inadequate staffing hindered the response to the blaze and contributed to the death toll, though the mayor criticized that characterization, and the fire chief suggested no number of first responders would have been enough. Meanwhile, several residents who praised firefighters and police for heroic rescue efforts said staff members did little to help.

“They didn’t knock on one door,” Robert Cabral said. “They just ran.”

Firefighters responded to the Gabriel House facility in Fall River, about 50 miles south of Boston, at about 9:50 p.m. Sunday and were met with heavy smoke and flames at the front of the building. The cause was under investigation, authorities said.

Lorraine Ferrara, one of about 70 residents at the facility, awoke to a neighbor pounding on her door. She tried to make her way through the smoke in the hallway but retreated to her room as the sprinkler system shot hot water onto her back.

As her room filed with smoke, Ferrara opened her window and yelled. A firefighter broke the window and carried her down the ladder, she said.

“I really thought I was going to die,” she said. “I thought there was no way out.”

That fear mixed with anger as she watched two employees run from the building.

“They left us alone and ran out into the parking lot,” she said. “I was hanging out the window — ‘Help! Help!’ and they just kept running."

Gabriel House opened in 1999 and has 100 units, according to Massachusetts Executive Office of Aging and Independence. Its website promotes studio apartments “for those seniors who cannot afford the high end of assisted living” as well as group adult foster care within walking distance of shopping, restaurants and churches.

“If an emergency occurs, no matter the time, there will be someone ready to help,” the website states.

Dennis Etzkorn, the facility’s owner, declined to comment Monday, but officials said he was cooperating with what Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon called “a very extensive investigation.”

Firefighters union decries lack of staff, equipment

About 50 firefighters responded to the scene, including 30 who were off-duty. Police also helped break down doors and carried about a dozen residents to safety. Five injured firefighters were released from the hospital Monday.

“You couldn’t have had enough people here to save everybody that needed help last night,” Bacon said.

But officials with the firefighters union said the closing of fire companies and cutbacks on staff have been a problem for decades.

If staffing had been at the nationally recommended level, eight more firefighters would have been at the scene Sunday night, said Edward Kelly, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters union.

“There’s no doubt that would’ve made a difference in the amount of people that we lost to this terrible fire last night,” Kelly said. “Lives would’ve been saved if the Fall River Fire Department was adequately staffed.”

Capt. Frank O'Reagan said there was no breathing equipment available when he arrived, so he started going door to door on the third floor without an air tank.

“First room, empty. Second door I kicked in, body. Next room, empty. Next room, body,” he said. “I searched as much as a could but after a while you just can’t take that much smoke.”

O'Reagan's brother and fellow firefighter Michael O'Reagan said he was shocked that 40 minutes after firefighters arrived, a large part of the building had not been searched.

“We did the best we could with what we had, and what we had was not enough,” said Michael O'Reagan, president of the Fall River firefighters union.

Mayor Paul Coogan said the fire department is staffed based on the recommendation from the fire chief.

“We staff the fire department at the number the chief asked for,” he said. “We’re not even 24 hours into this and that’s going to be a priority, not the families?”

The Rev. Michael Racine, the city’s fire chaplain, spent the night blessing the bodies of the dead and trying to console survivors, families, staff members and firefighters.

“Nobody in that department has seen what we saw last night. Nobody,” Racine said. “We’ve seen fatalities, which we don’t want to see, but nobody’s seen anything like last night.”

Joe Alves, who lives several houses down from the facility, said he saw officials pulling bodies, people in wheelchairs and injured pets out of the building, with some pouring water bottles on burns.

“It was terrible,” he said, choking up slightly.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey offered state assistance to the city's mayor, condolences to the families of those who died and gratitude to first responders.

“Right now, the first order of business is to make sure we’re assisting the city in every way possible in rehousing what is a vulnerable population,” Healey said. "All of these people need assistance. As you saw, many were in wheelchairs, many were immobile, many had oxygen tanks."

Brian Doherty, president of the Massachusetts Assisted Living Association, said state officials were working with long-term care facilities to find homes for displaced residents.

City is one of the poorest in Massachusetts

With about 94,000 residents, Fall River is the state's 10th-largest city and one of its poorest.

The blue-collar community in southern Massachusetts was once a global center for textile manufacturing, but it suffered population loss and economic hardship as the industry declined. Recent decades have seen some new development and investment, but the city has also been rocked by scandal. Former Mayor Jasiel Correia was convicted in a corruption trial and sentenced to six years in prison in 2021.

Survivors of the fire were ushered to a temporary housing center about half a mile from their former home, many of them in shock after losing most of their belongings.

Some broke down in tears, others threw out names — desperate to know who was still alive. Staffers handed out sandwiches, beverages and even canes for those who did not have time to grab their medical equipment in the smoke and flames.

Neal Beck, who had lived at Gabriel House for six years, said he was rescued by ladder from his bathroom window.

“I've been homeless before," Beck said. "I guess I'll be homeless again.”

Head cook Paul Ferreira was off the clock Sunday night but rushed to the scene and watched as bodies were removed from the building. He grew emotional describing the community of people who have long struggled to find affordable housing.

“Not knowing it was the last time I was cooking for them, it’s sad. They become part of your family,” Ferreira said. “Some of these people have no family members. Where are they going to go now?"

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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Whittle reported from Scarborough, Maine. Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack in Concord and Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.