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NINE people have been killed and at least 30 more were injured in a horrifying fire at a nursing home.
Firefighters arrived at the burning building to find terrified residents hanging out of windows and screaming for help on Sunday night, officials said.
The fire broke out at around 9:50 pm and triggered five alarms at Gabriel House Assisted Living Facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, 50 miles south of Boston, fire officials said.
Five firefighters were also injured as they fought the deadly blaze.
The bodies of some of the victims were still inside the facility, Fall River Mayor Paul Coogen told NBC affiliate WJAR on Monday morning.
“This is an unfathomable tragedy for the families involved and the Fall River community,” Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said.
“On behalf of the Fall River Fire Department, I want to express our heartfelt condolences to the loved ones who are grieving this morning.”
Officials have yet to name the cause of the fire.
About 70 people lived at the assisted living facility, the state fire marshal said.
The residents were sleeping at the home when the fire broke out, officials told the Boston Globe.
Firefighters received an alert about the fire from an automated alarm.
Every single firefighter in the city was called in to the devastating scene, including 30 off-duty firefighters.
“They showed up to the scene, obviously fire, smoke and victims screaming for rescue out windows, and it makes for a chaotic scene,” Bacon said at the scene.
Dozens of people were rescued by climbing down ladders.
The fire was contained to one wing of the home, but the entire building was damaged by smoke.
Fire officials didn’t say whether the building’s sprinkler system was working.
Fire chief’s full statement
Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon shared the following statement after a fire killed at least nine people at Gabriel House Assisted Living Facility on Sunday night:
This is an unfathomable tragedy for the families involved and the Fall River community.
On behalf of the Fall River Fire Department, I want to express our heartfelt condolences to the loved ones who are grieving this morning.
Source: Fall River Department of Fire Services
Family members of elderly residents recalled the terrifying scene as one woman said her dad was trapped inside his room.
“He was on the floor talking to me, and I am crying telling him, ‘Break the window. Try to break it,’ because he is so weak, and he couldn’t break it,” a woman named Melanie told ABC affiliate WCVB-TV.
Melanie said her dad was trapped in the bathroom.
“I said open your bathroom window, and he said, ‘It is open, but they are not hearing me. They are not hearing me, Melanie. I am going to die in here,'” she recalled.
It’s unclear if Melanie’s father survived the fire.
Residents who survived the fire were taken to a local shelter.
