Fire killed 9 at a senior living facility. What to know about its residents, past problems.

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Questions are swirling about what could have caused the deadly fire at a Massachusetts assisted living residence over the weekend that killed nine people and injured dozens more.

Flames trapped residents inside Gabriel House, a 100-unit facility, with first responders kicking down doors and pulling screaming people out through windows. The residence, which opened in 1999, housed approximately 70 people at the time of the fire.

Gabriel House was designed to care for residents 55 and older. It offered services including medication management, “bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, ambulation or other specific personal care needs,” according to its website. 

"Our staff is awake and available 24 hours a day," the website said. "If an emergency occurs, no matter the time, there will be someone ready to help."

Area officials are still investigating what caused the fire at Gabriel House, located 50 miles south of Boston in Fall River, Massachusetts, a city of about 94,000.

Here's what we know about the residence as the New England community reels:

What do residents say about Gabriel House?

Donna Murphy, who has lived in the facility for five years, described the conditions as an accident waiting to happen. She said multiple people in the building violate rules by smoking and using prohibited devices.

“There’s oxygen tanks, people smoking. … There’s toasters, people have got fryolators … microwaves,” Murphy told the Herald News, part of the Paste BN Network, while smoking a cigarette.

Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said there were “several” oxygen tanks in the building on July 13. The tanks can be dangerous, but officials don't currently believe they're connected to the blaze.

Kerry Leckey, who lived in a first-floor apartment, fled the building using her walker. It's the only thing she has from her home.

She told the Herald News that said she was lucky to still have it. "Everybody else’s medication, money – everything is gone, gone, gone," Leckey said.

Facility was forced to take corrective action by the state

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Aging and Independence, which certifies assisted living residences, last inspected Gabriel House in October 2023.

The inspection found the facility was out of compliance in more than a half-dozen areas due to missing documentation, issues with medication and late reporting of resident incidents.

The facility submitted a plan to correct these issues and was certified to continue operating through November 2025.

Did Gabriel House have fire drills, evacuation plan?

State regulations require assisted living facilities to come up with plans for emergencies such as fires, including holding drills.

They must also confirm whether they have appropriate staffing each quarter and "have a plan to secure staffing necessary" to respond to emergencies.

Murphy, the resident of five years, said there was “never a fire drill – not once." Deborah Johnson, a current employee, and Jenn Marley, a former employee, told The Boston Globe and WCVB-TV the same.

However, Richard Aguiar, the deputy chief of the city's Emergency Management Agency, told Paste BN the facility should do fire drills every three months, per protocol. Aguiar said Gabriel House should have paper documentation of these drills, but it may have been lost in the fire.

"Everything met all protocols on our behalf," he said.

Aguiar said the facility had an evacuation plan. But there were at least 12 people who could not escape on their own due to mobility difficulties and only two staff members working on July 13, which he said "made it precarious to get people out of there."

"So the plan, it worked to an extent, but unfortunately, not 100% because of the situation with the smoke within the building," Aguiar said.

The emergency official said fire inspectors have to examine the building at least once a year. At the time of the blaze over the weekend, he said the smoke detectors and sprinkler system in the building were working, though he noted the sprinklers were "an old system."

Bacon, the fire chief, said at a press conference on July 15 he could not yet comment on the state of the sprinkler system at Gabriel House – and whether it was working properly – without more information from investigators.

He noted that “sprinklers aren’t designed to put a fire out.”

“A lot of what you see in movies is just made for movies,” Bacon said. “Sprinklers are designed to hold a fire back so we can come in and put the fire out.”

Who owns Gabriel House? Massachusetts man was indicted in Medicaid kickback scheme

Gabriel House is owned by Dennis Etzkorn, according to property records.

Etzkorn holds all offices for the corporation Gabriel Care, Inc., according to local documents. His titles include president, treasurer, secretary and director of the company.

He's also listed in state records as the manager of several other companies, including Gabriel Care, LLC, which is connected to an adult foster care program.

The company, Etzkorn and another manager were indicted by a Bristol County grand jury in 2012 for allegedly paying kickbacks to patients and their caregivers in exchange for referrals. The defendants were also accused of submitting false claims.

The case was closed in 2015 after a judge ruled certain evidence was obtained illegally. However, the state attorney general's office told Paste BN it dismissed the charges as part of a $950,000 settlement agreement with Gabriel Care, LLC and Etzkorn over the allegations.

Etzkorn and his attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. After the fire, Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan said he was on the scene and cooperating.

Etzkorn said in a statement to The Boston Globe that he is "devastated by the tragedy at Gabriel House."

"I am grateful for the support the city of Fall River has shown to everyone affected by this tragedy," he said. "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."

Contributing: Jayme Fraiser, Paste BN