Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Fall River fire: Assisted living facility’s track record, fire department’s staffing under scrutiny
Questions about Gabriel House living conditions and emergency preparedness continue to swirl amid the ongoing investigation into Sunday’s deadly fire.
Though the investigation into Sunday’s fatal Fall River assisted living facility fire is ongoing, finger-pointing has already begun amid allegations of subpar conditions at Gabriel House and understaffing among first responders.
Nine people were killed and dozens more injured when the five-alarm fire broke out before 10 p.m., and some trapped residents were seen hanging out of windows and screaming for help. The dead ranged in age from 61 to 86.
Fall River fire:
Investigators are still working to identify the fire’s cause and origin, though they made “significant” progress Monday, according to Jake Wark, a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Fire Services.
Advertisement:
“The fire does not appear suspicious at this time, but investigators have not narrowed the potential factors down to the single cause necessary for a conclusive determination and I don’t expect anything for at least a few days,” he explained in an email.
Gabriel House owner Dennis Etzkorn also pledged his cooperation with the probe and said he and his family are “devastated by the tragedy.”
“Our thoughts are with every one of our residents, their families, our staff, and the brave first responders,” Etzkorn told The Boston Globe in a statement, adding, “We will continue to cooperate with the authorities and provide them with any information they may need throughout the investigative process regarding the cause and origin of this fire.”
Gabriel House living conditions called into question
The website for Gabriel House touts the facility’s on-site staffing and amenities, assuring prospective residents, “If an emergency occurs, no matter the time, there will be someone ready to help.”
Advertisement:
Yet current and former employees interviewed by the Globe alleged Gabriel House was not only understaffed and poorly maintained, but that it also failed to perform fire drills.
Jenn Marley, a former Gabriel House certified nursing assistant, told the newspaper she was never trained on evacuation procedures and never experienced a fire drill in the nearly two years she worked there.
“These people did not deserve what they got,” Debbie Johnson, a certified nursing assistant who has worked at Gabriel House for four years, told the Globe. “They did not deserve those living quarters that they lived in.”
Speaking to WBZ, Johnson described pervasive pest control issues and longstanding problems with the facility’s elevator — a concern also voiced by one of the displaced residents.
“They had cockroaches, infested with cockroaches, bed bugs. It was dirty,” Johnson told WBZ. “The elevator was broke[n] for 9 months. People on the third floor were stuck in their rooms.”
Speaking with reporters Tuesday, Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon fielded questions about the facility’s emergency preparedness.
“I think that our inspections require them to have an evacuation plan and fire drills, and we would hold them to that and hold them to giving us dates when those were performed,” he said.
Advertisement:
It’s not the first time oversight officials have held Gabriel House to account. A 2023 state compliance review by the Executive Office of Elder Affairs highlighted a variety of transgressions at the facility, including missing or inconsistent paperwork. Among their findings, state officials noted Gabriel House was delayed in filing 26 incident reports for resident-specific emergencies during the time period in question. The review also found missing documentation for eye drop medications and improperly stored pills.
Gabriel House ultimately submitted a corrective action plan and was certified to operate through November 2025, with another on-site visit expected in the fall.
The facility’s owner, Etzkorn, also faced criminal charges more than a decade ago after he was indicted in a kickback scheme linked to his adult foster care business, Gabriel Care. Prosecutors dropped the charges in 2015 after judges determined investigators obtained some evidence illegally, and Etzkorn and Gabriel Care ultimately agreed to pay $950,000 to resolve the case, Boston 25 News reported.
City, fire chief respond to questions about staffing
Meanwhile, Fall River officials are also pushing back on claims there weren’t enough firefighters on-duty Sunday night.
Speaking to reporters Monday, fire union officials alleged understaffing hindered the initial response at Gabriel House; Edward Kelly, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, noted eight of Fall River’s 10 fire companies were staffed below national standards.
Advertisement:
“I don’t think I’m overstating that probably five more people could have lived had those eight firefighters been on scene,” Kelly asserted.
“This isn’t a Fall River alone issue,” Bacon replied Tuesday. “Any municipal fire chief who’s in a community the size of Fall River with the economic conditions of this city is always begging for more manpower.”
Authorities have said about 50 firefighters responded to the scene, including 30 who were off-duty at the time.
“You could have had 100 firefighters show up on that scene, and it wouldn’t have been enough,” Bacon asserted. “You can’t plan your staffing based on a 40-year worst-case incident, right? There’s nobody that could do that.”
He said he’s long been advocating for the city to add more firefighters
“The current model that we have is less firefighters and more overtime,” Bacon explained. “And that’s worked for us, but it’s also working our firefighters to the bone and it’s going to lead to more injuries, and it’s going to lead to more issues down the road.”
He also said the city applied for a grant recently to partially close the gap and add at least a few new firefighters.
“It’s not the number that I was hoping for,” Bacon acknowledged. “But that’s not a reality in a city like Fall River where you have to work within the confines of the budget.”
Advertisement:
The city issued a statement of its own responding to firefighter staffing concerns and promised the Gabriel House investigation will include a “thorough review of staffing, response times, fire suppression tactics, and building safety systems.”
While he was steadfast in championing his department’s work Sunday night, Bacon acknowledged the need for more manpower.
“I can’t disagree with the union’s assertion that if there were more firefighters there, that we could have done things more efficiently and better,” he said. “I don’t know if it would have saved lives; that’s speculation.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com