Nine people died and at least 30 were injured when a five-alarm fire tore through an assisted living facility in Fall River on Sunday night, according to city officials.
The fire broke out before 10 p.m. at the Gabriel House Assisted Living Facility on Oliver Street, according to the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services. Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke, flames and residents trapped inside the building.
“This is an unfathomable tragedy for the families involved and the Fall River community,” Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said in a statement early Monday morning.
Multiple residents were declared dead at the scene, with victims ranging in age from 61 to 86 years old, according to authorities. The Bristol County District Attorney’s office released the names of seven victims on Monday afternoon: Rui Albernaz, 64; Ronald Codega, 61; Margaret Duddy, 69; Robert King, 78; Kim Mackin, 71; Richard Rochon, 78; and Eleanor Willett, 86. The DA’s office did not publicly name one woman, 70, and one man, 77, because their families have not been notified yet.
Dozens of residents were transported to local hospitals in varying conditions, according to officials. Those injured were taken to St. Anne’s Hospital and Charlton Hospital in Fall River, along with St. Lukes’ Hospital in New Bedford. At least two people with more serious injuries were taken to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. Five firefighters were treated and released by Monday evening.
Bacon told reporters Monday morning that he had never before seen an incident of this magnitude. “I was with the state fire marshal last night and a bunch of people from the state police and trying to think of when the last time there were nine fatalities at a single incident in the state of Massachusetts and nobody could come up with one,” Bacon said. “This is generational.”
Gabriel House has been in operation for over two decades and has 100 units, according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Aging and Independence. About 70 people were currently living there, state officials said. The facility’s 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.
Several residents criticized the facility’s response during the emergency. “They didn’t knock on one door,” resident Robert Cabral said. “They just ran.”
Lorraine Ferrara, another facility resident, said she awoke to a neighbor pounding on her door. She tried to make her way through smoke in the hallway but retreated to her room as the sprinkler system shot hot water onto her back. As her room filled with smoke, Ferrara opened her window and yelled for help. A firefighter broke the window and carried her down a ladder.
“I really thought I was going to die,” she said. “I thought there was no way out.”
Ferrara expressed anger as she watched two employees flee 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.”
Bacon estimated that about half of the building’s residents needed to be rescued, either through windows or hallways. Air conditioner units in windows complicated rescue efforts by making some of the larger windows unusable for evacuations, according to the fire chief.
Jarren Oldrid described the scene as “pretty terrifying” as he searched for his 67-year-old father, Steven Oldrid. He eventually found him recovering from smoke inhalation at a hospital. “It’s kind of just a whirlwind of trying to figure out what’s happening, how this could happen in such a major way,” he said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation by local and state authorities.
