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A fire in an assisted-living facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, killed nine residents and sent at least 30 more to the hospital. From member station GBH, Craig LeMoult reports that evacuating vulnerable residents proved challenging for rescuers.
CRAIG LEMOULT, BYLINE: Lorraine Ferrara says she was awakened Sunday night by a banging on the door of her second-floor room at the Gabriel House assisted-living facility.
LORRAINE FERRARA: And I opened my door, and the smoke just hit me. It filled my whole room and the bathroom. I tried to get out. I tried the exit. I couldn't get out to the exit door. I couldn't make it to the exit door. And it was right there.
LEMOULT: She called for help from her bathroom window. Firefighters were able to reach her there and carry her to safety. She says two good friends of hers, who she ate meals with every day, were among the residents killed in the fire.
FERRARA: They both tell me every day they love me. And I tell them I love them.
LEMOULT: Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon says firefighters arrived in response to an automatic fire alarm that was triggered shortly after 9:30 p.m.
JEFFREY BACON: There were multiple victims hanging out the windows, screaming and begging for help and to be rescued. So it quickly - we knocked down the fire quickly, then all available assets were moved towards rescuing the individuals that needed help.
LEMOULT: Bacon spoke in front of the three-story building, which looked blackened and hollowed out in some places. At another press conference later in the day, several firefighters and union leaders said the city of Fall River failed to adequately staff the fire department, hampering their ability to respond. They said they could have saved more lives if they had more working firefighters. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey offered praise and gratitude for what first responders were able to accomplish.
MAURA HEALEY: This was not a situation where teams arrived and people were able to get out easily. All of these people needed assistance. As you saw, many were in wheelchairs. Many were immobile. Many had oxygen tanks. There were severely compromised individuals in this assisted-living facility, which made it all the more challenging.
LEMOULT: Healey says most, if not all, of the facility's 70 residents are on MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program. The city's mayor says they're working on securing new housing for them all, as well as making sure everyone has access to important medications. Kerry Leckey, who moved to the assisted-living facility just about two months ago, sat on a walker outside the shelter that residents were moved to.
KERRY LECKEY: Nobody left with anything. I was lucky to have this, but everybody else's medication, money, everything is gone, gone, gone - all of it.
LEMOULT: A few belongings have been recovered from residents' rooms. Seventy-two-year-old Michael Pimentel, who uses a wheelchair because he had both legs amputated years ago, clutched the one treasured item he'd been brought - a wooden box containing his mother's ashes. He says other residents had similar heirlooms retrieved.
MICHAEL PIMENTEL: The fireman got them out of people's rooms. This is very important to me, very important to me.
LEMOULT: He says his friends who were lost in the fire are irreplaceable. There's no word yet on the future of the facility, and the cause of the fire is under investigation. For NPR News, I'm Craig LeMoult in Fall River, Massachusetts.
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