9 killed in assisted living facility fire

FALL RIVER, Mass. — Fire officials in Fall River, Massachusetts, said that nine people have died and dozens of others were hurt in a blaze at an assisted living facility.

Fire crews were called to the scene at Gabriel House at about 9:30 p.m. Sunday and found the front entrance of the building ablaze and several residents hanging out of windows and doors waiting to be rescued, WFXT reported.

Police tried to break windows and doors to get into the building and get those inside out safely, The Associated Press reported.

Officials said 70 people lived at the facility and that 30 people were hurt. At least five firefighters were injured, but their injuries were not life-threatening. All of the residents were displaced, The New York Times reported.

Fall River Police said that about a dozen “non-ambulatory” residents of the home were carried out by police.

“This is an unfathomable tragedy for the families involved and the Fall River community,” Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said.

The Fall River Fire Department and the state’s Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating to find the cause of the fire. The fire was out by early Monday, The New York Times reported.

Gabriel House opened in 1999 and has 100 units, state records show, according to the Times.

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