Nine people are dead and at least 30 injured after a five-alarm fire at an assisted living facility in Fall River on Sunday night, according to city officials.
“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. “On behalf of the Fall River Fire Department, I want to express our heartfelt condolences to the loved ones who are grieving this morning.”
The Fall River Fire Department first responded to the Gabriel House of Fall River assisted living facility after 9:30 Sunday night. About 50 firefighters eventually responded, the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services said.
Multiple people were declared dead at the scene. Others were taken to nearby hospitals. In the immediate aftermath, authorities set up a family notification and reunification center at the chapel at the nearby St. Anne’s Hospital.
Lorraine Ferrara, a 71-year old resident who’s been living at Gabriel House for the last eight months, said she woke up to a loud bang at her door on Sunday night. When she opened it, smoke filled her room.
“It was all smoke. The smoke just hit me,” Ferrara said. “And I tried getting out of the exit. My door was right by the exit door, but I couldn’t get to it. I tried, and I just couldn’t get to it.”
Ferrara said that she retreated to her bathroom and then saw a fire ladder nearby. She cried for help from her window and heard others above her do the same.
“I told the fireman — I was just ready to say, ‘Just leave me.’ That’s how I felt. I thought there was no way out ‘cause I couldn’t fit through the window,” Ferrara said. “But he broke the window … but I don’t remember being carried down. I must have been carried down, but I don’t remember it.”
Ferrara, and other displaced Gabriel House residents, found refuge Monday at an emergency shelter called the Timao Center in Fall River. Ferrara said she’s not sure where she’ll be living next.
“I thought I had a place to live ‘till I died,” Ferrera said. “I really thought I was at home there. That was my home. Now it’s not.”
The Gabriel House facility has 100 units, according to state data. The facility housed roughly 70 residents at the time, according to the Bristol County District Attorney’s office.
The Bristol County DA identified the deceased residents as: 64-year-old Rui Albernaz, 61-year-old Ronald Codega, 69-year-old Margaret Duddy, 78-year-old Robert King, 71-year-old Kim Mackin, and 78-year-old Richard Rochon. A 70-year-old female and a 77-year-old male also died, but their names have not yet been released.
The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Massachusetts State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Section assigned to the State Fire Marshal’s Office, the Fall River Fire and Police Departments, in conjunction with State Troopers assigned to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office.
The investigation is ongoing, the DA’s office said, but “the cause does not appear to be suspicious at this time.”
This developing story has been updated with information from the Bristol County District Attorney’s office and interviews on the ground.
