Fatal blaze at assisted-living center raises questions on safety and firefighter staffing

Questions and finger-pointing have increased in the days since a fire at a Massachusetts assisted-living facility killed nine and hurt dozens, as some residents had to hang out of windows screaming for help.

Union officials say the city didn't staff enough firefighters to rescue all the residents trapped in the blaze, and the facility's owner had a previous citation for failing to report numerous health and safety incidents. The tragedy has also called attention to the minimal regulations that govern assisted-living facilities.

Here’s what to know about the blaze, its victims, and how authorities and residents have reacted in the aftermath.

The fire started in a room on the second floor on the east side of the Gabriel House facility, but details about the exact origin and cause are under investigation, and the Bristol County district attorney’s office said the cause “does not appear to be suspicious.”

The city's fire chief teared up Wednesday as he described the chaotic scene his crew faced when they arrived at around 9:50 p.m. Sunday, finding heavy smoke and flames at the front of the building.

"They described seeing faces in windows,” Chief Jeffrey Bacon told reporters, choking back tears. “And having to decide who to rescue.”

A firefighter hoisted six residents, one by one, over his shoulder and carried them to safety. The smoke was so thick on the second floor that two other firefighters couldn't see their hands in front of their faces. Another dragged a resident down the hall to a waiting colleague.

“That wing had nobody who could escape on their own,” he said.

Two of the roughly 30 injured people were in critical condition on Wednesday, Bacon said, up from just one person a day earlier.

Gov. Maura Healey has described the facility’s residents as a vulnerable population with many in wheelchairs and having oxygen tanks. Those who died ranged in age from 61 to 86, Bacon said.

A day after the fire, the firefighters union said inadequate staffing hindered the fire response and contributed to the death toll. One fire captain said breathing equipment was unavailable when he arrived, so he searched door to door without an air tank until the smoke got to him.

“We did the best we could with what we had, and what we had was not enough,” said Michael O’Reagan, president of the Fall River firefighters union.

About 50 firefighters responded to the scene, including 30 who were off-duty. Police helped break down doors and carried about a dozen residents to safety.

By Wednesday, city officials said they had figured out a plan to add more firefighters to each shift, initially via overtime and eventually by hiring new staff. The cost for the additional staffing is estimated to be nearly $1.5 million, Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan said.

Home to around 94,000 people, the city in southern Massachusetts is one of the poorest in the state.

The blaze in Fall River is the state’s deadliest fire since 1984 when 15 people were killed in a rooming house, according to the state Department of Fire Services.

Richard Moore, a former head of the Massachusetts Assisted Living Association and a former longtime state senator, called on the attorney general to investigate. Moore said he'd heard reports of insufficient fire drills and an owner who was indicted in 2012 on medical assistance fraud and kickback charges that were dismissed three years later.

Dennis Etzkorn, the facility’s owner, has declined to comment.

The assisted-living facility was cited for failing to report more than two dozen health and safety incidents within a day after they occurred, as required by state law, according to regulators’ most recent review of the facility.

The Gabriel House website promotes studio apartments “for those seniors who cannot afford the high end of assisted living,” as well as group adult foster care within walking distance of shopping, restaurants and churches. It has three floors with 100 units and opened in 1999, according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Aging and Independence.

Those who live alone in studio apartments, arranged around a central courtyard area, pay between $1,850 and $2,400 monthly, depending on their level of services, according to the website. The residence also offers a basic living plan that includes shared studio apartments, but doesn't specify a price.

“If an emergency occurs, no matter the time, there will be someone ready to help,” the website states.

Contributors to this report include Associated Press writers Michael Casey and Kimberlee Kruesi in Fall River, Massachusetts; Michelle R. Smith in Providence, Rhode Island; and Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire.

Flowers sit at a makeshift memorial in front of the Gabriel House assisted living facility, where a fire on Sunday killed several people, Wednesday, July 16, 2025 in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

An investigator takes measurements Monday, July 14, 2025, near an entrance to the Gabriel House assisted living facility following a fire that started late Sunday, in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

This image taken from video provided by WLNE-TV shows a firefighter working on the aftermath of a fire at an assisted living facility in Fall River, Mass., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (WLNE-TV via AP)

Michael Pimentel, center, a resident at the Gabriel House assisted living facility, in Fall River, Mass., receives assistance from an emergency medical worker, right, outside a temporary shelter, Monday, July 14, 2025, in Fall River, following a fire that started late Sunday. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Flowers sit at a makeshift memorial in front of the Gabriel House assisted living facility, where a fire on Sunday killed several people, Wednesday, July 16, 2025 in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

Flowers and candles sit in front of the Gabriel House assisted living home, where a fire on Sunday killed several people, Tuesday, July 15, 2025 in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey approaches a news conference to face reporters Monday, July 14, 2025, near the Gabriel House assisted living facility, behind, following a fire that started late Sunday in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan, left, faces reporters near the Gabriel House assisted living facility, behind, Monday, July 14, 2025, following a fire at the facility that started late Sunday, in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Donna Murphy, a resident at the Gabriel House assisted living facility, in Fall River, Mass., speaks with members of the media outside a temporary shelter, Monday, July 14, 2025, in Fall River, Mass., following a fire at the Gabriel House that started late Sunday and resulted in multiple fatalities. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Flowers sit in front of the Gabriel House assisted living facility where a fire on Sunday killed several people, Tuesday, July 15, 2025 in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, center, and Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan, left, speak with a member of law enforcement, right, near the Gabriel House assisted living facility, Monday, July 14, 2025, following a fire that started late Sunday, in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

This image taken from video provided by WLNE-TV shows damage from a fire at an assisted living facility in Fall River, Mass., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (WLNE-TV via AP)

An investigator takes measurements Monday, July 14, 2025, near an entrance to the Gabriel House assisted living facility following a fire that started late Sunday in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A law enforcement official removes boxes containing patient medications from the Gabriel House assisted living facility following a fire that resulted in multiple fatalities, in Fall River, Mass., Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)