Posted on 07/14/2025 8:33:04 AM PDT by Morgana
Distraught families are waiting for news of their loved ones after a fire tore through a senior care home in Massachusetts overnight on Sunday, killing nine people.
Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan said some of the bodies were still inside Gabriel House Assisted Living Facility close to Providence by daylight on Monday morning.
Flames ripped through the building around 9.30pm, and firefighters found terrified elderly residents hanging out of windows surrounded by thick black smoke when they arrived at the scene.
Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said that more than 30 people were taken to the hospital and nine people have died. One person remains in a critical condition.
Five firefighters were also treated at hospital and each has since been released, Bacon said. Around 50 firefighters rushed to the blaze, which triggered five alarms.
'Our heart goes out to all of the families of the people that were injured here, and the people that lost their lives here,' he told a press conference just after midnight.
'Fall River stands with them and sends out our thoughts and prayers.' Bacon grew visibly emotional and choked up as he announced the death toll at the facility.
Fall River, which is home to around 94,000 people, is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, on the Massachusetts side of the border.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Cause of the fire was probably something left on a stove burner.
That Fall River, Massachusetts is on the Massachusetts side of the state line.
Probably wood frame construction and I wonder how many patients were on oxygen.
No sprinklers. Many states are requiring older assisted living facilities to be retrofitted usually based on criteria such as over a certain occupancy limit and building height and type of construction.
Mass. law does not require such retrofit for all buildings but does provides the following,
“The state also established a local option to permit municipalities to require that sprinklers be provided in all
boarding homes with more than five residents.”
Very often fires in these facilities are caused by smoking, primarily by a patient who is not allowed to smoke and sneaks a smoke in bed at night. If he or she is on oxygen, it makes it much more likely. And the presence of oxygen cylinders in the rest of the building makes it much worse.
Most people in the Northeast only think of RI as south of MA, but yeah, it sounds odd as written.
Constructed in 1990's it had them and article mentions them going off. These type of facilities especially wood frame should be one story constructed. Evening staff is often reduced at care facilities. Which would have slowed evacuation process especially using stairs as the only route. I am a retired healthcare facility {assisted living/nursing home} maintenance mechanic. Assisted living were in one story apartments. Nursing home patients were in a concrete 5 story building. Some assisted living did have kitchens and we cut the power off to any oven and stove in rooms we considered high risk residents.
These facilities often labeled NPO's are anything but that. The profits end ip in paid B.O.D. s and administrators pockets even at the expense of needed upkeep cost.
My m-i-l was a smoker and I checked on her one day before going for a walk. She was in bed watching TV, but had fallen asleep and I swear I saw the glow of a cigarette butt near the bed.
I don’t remember what I did then but obviously nothing came of it.
My m-i-l was a smoker and I checked on her one day before going for a walk. She was in bed watching TV, but had fallen asleep and I swear I saw the glow of a cigarette butt near the bed.
I don’t remember what I did then but obviously nothing came of it.
Perhaps.
Window A/C Units? Not good. Should all be central A/C or one single unit cooling the building. Among other things window A/C’s slow down fire rescue efforts especially multi story. Fan motors can also start fires.
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