(15 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fall River, Massachusetts — 15 July 2025
1. A peak, through a broken window, into an abandoned second-floor room
2. Gabriel House sign
3. People investigating the scene
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Bacon, Fall River fire chief:
“You could have had 105 fire fighters show up on that scene and it wouldn’t have been enough. So, when you have a scene like that, you can’t plan your staffing based on a 40 year worst case incident, right? There’s nobody that could do that… but I’m proud of the 35 firefighters that showed up. 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."
5. Investigators use 3D cameras
++COVERED++
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Bacon, Fall River fire chief:
“Any municipal fire chief who’s in a community the size of Fall River, with the economic conditions of the city, is always begging for more manpower.”
7. People investigating the scene
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Bacon, Fall River fire chief:
”I’ve been advocating for more firefighters in the city of Fall River to make the job safer. The current model that we have is less firefighters, more overtime, and that’s worked for us. But it’s also working our firefighters to the bone and it’s gonna lead to more injuries and it’s gonna lead to more issues down the road.”
9. Gabriel House exterior marked with do not cross tape
10. Owner of Gabriel Care LLCDennis Etzkorn, in green T-shirt and wearing red cap, works with investigators
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Bacon, Fall River fire chief:
“I’ve been vocal about that at city council meetings, at my budget hearings, that I think 15 to 20 would have been a home run for a grant, but I also understand that we need to do this in a way that’s sustainable once the gran t’s done. FEMA doesn’t want to give you money to hire 25 firefighters and lay off 30 in three years when the grant’s done."
12. Gabriel House exterior marked with do not cross tape
13. Flowers near do not cross tape
++COVERED++
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Bacon, Fall River fire chief:
”The victims who remain hospitalized, I don’t have the number. However, I want everyone to rest assured that they will not be released from the hospital without placement to proper facilities and proper care.”
15. Gabriel House exterior scarred by fire damage
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Bacon, Fall River fire chief:
"There’s a lot of generosity and love being shared with the City of Fall River and the people who have suffered so much the other night. We asked that you utilize the city’s Facebook page, Fall River Government, for a list of where and how to donate to organizations that have reached out to the city and that the city is working with."
STORYLINE:
A Massachusetts assisted-living center where nine residents died in a fire was cited for failing to immediately report more than two dozen health and safety incidents, according to regulators’ most recent review of the facility.
Five men and four women were killed and at least 30 others were injured Sunday night at Gabriel House in Fall River, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Boston. Some of the 70 residents were rescued by ladder after screaming for help from the windows of the three-story building. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
Some residents said only two or three staffers were working at the time of the fire, and they offered little help.
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