Gabriel House Assisted Living Center Fire, Update from Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon7.15.2025

Um there's not a lot of new information to report. I'm just here to try to um centralize where this information is coming from. Um I think the fortunate thing is in the fire service. We're not great with the PIO stuff. We don't have the same need as some of our public safety partners for a PIO to be available daily for information releases. My public information officer is also a fire investigator and the

assistant city fire marshal. And as you can imagine, he's very busy with other things this week. Um, so that's been deferred to me and I've tried to keep up. I apologize if I haven't gotten back to you and I've tried to answer as many requests as I could, but here we are.

Um, and I want to let you know that the as far as I know there's going to be a lot of questions about the investigation and the inspectional services investigation. Uh the fire department has partnered with the state fire marshall's office and the DA's office and in the um because we feel like they're the most appropriate agency to release that information. They will have the totality of it. I ask that you

contact Jake War. I'm sure most of you are in are u know of Jake. He is the uh PIO for the Department of Fire Services.

Jake.wark jak.wmass.gov.

he'll be able to provide any information regarding the inspectional services or the investigation. Um, as for an update on the displaced residents at the Tomo Center, there are currently today there stand only seven residents still remaining at the Tomao Center. Uh, they're currently awaiting approval to be transferred to other local facilities. We expect that to happen by end of day today. Um, 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. Um, we've gotten a lot of requests for fundraisers. There's been a lot of fundraisers that have popped out and a lot of people uh there's a lot of generosity and love being shared with the city of Fall River and the people

who uh who suffered so much the other night. We ask 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.

Um, you should be aware that public record requests through the code enforcement division will start to be released today. I just forwarded three years of inspectional reports from that facility, from our fire prevention bureau to the legal department, and those should be released ASAP, hopefully by today. Um, and for anything else, I suggest that you call the mayor's office at 324-2600

and they'll be able to answer any other questions or provide anything else. I plan on doing this daily. If there's information, if you want to show up, I'll come out and give you whatever I can get. But in the meantime, that's what I have for you. And I'm happy to answer any questions that I can that I didn't already address.

Mr. respond to the um um to what came out yesterday from the firefighters union regarding bodies per apparatus firefighters for apparatus. One of you guys are understand.

Yeah, I don't think this is a this isn't a Fall River uh alone issue. This is any municipal fire chief who's in a community the size of Fall River uh with the economic conditions of this city is always begging for more manpower. Right.

And I know the mayor released a statement yesterday. I think that was uh that he he just released I don't know about the timing but whether you've read it or not he just released an updated statement updating his remarks from yesterday. Uh I met with him this morning and and he is aware that since the very first meeting that I had with him 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 and more overtime. 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. So, the mayor um recently we put in for a safer grant.

And in that safer grant, in the narrative for that safer grant that we submitted a month ago, it says that we're going to try to put a fourth firefighter on engine two and engine 9 in the city to increase four firefighters on four apparatus. That's something that I worked with. It's not the number that I was hoping for. I was shooting for a home run and trying to get four across the city and increase

our manpower. But that's not a reality in a city like Fall River where you have to work within the confines of the budget. The four on every apparatus, the union and the and the city can can work that out. My job is to is to try to do that balancing act and work with what the city gives me for a budget and equip the firefighters as best I can for them to do the job safely.

had enough on Sunday. You had enough firefighters.

That see that's a trick. You could have had 100 firefighters show up on that scene and it wouldn't have been enough, right? 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. I don't know if it would have saved lives. That's speculation. The fact of the matter, the world that I live in with facts is absolutely. If you gave me eight more firefighters on that

scene, we're throwing more ladders.

We're affecting more rescues more efficiently. That's a fact. I don't know if life could have been saved or would have changed the incident at all. I'm focusing my firefighters on the 50 plus lives that were saved at that incident based on their heroic efforts. And that's what I need to focus on for my mental health and their mental health to to get through this.

Can you tell us about the investigation?

how you respond to issues like this.

I'm sorry.

Are there changes you want to make moving forward in how the department want responds to emergencies of this scale?

Absolutely. And and while um increasing manpower is a conversation that I I would love to have at an appropriate time, I just want to focus more on what the actions were done the other night and the families that were affected by that tragedy. That's absolutely something that I plan on addressing at the appropriate time. Chief, there are Chief, there are sprinklers in that building. So, if they were working,

wouldn't that put the fire out pretty quickly? And that would stop the sprinklers aren't designed to put a fire out. A lot of what you see in the movies is is just made for movies. Sprinklers are designed to hold a fire back so that we can come and put the fire out, but a proper working sprinkler system would hold the fire back. Absolutely.

As far as Is that what happened Sunday night?

I can't comment on that. That's part of the investigation. I would contact Jake Walk on that. As far as your department is concerned, what role did the staff on hand play in getting people out of the building that night?

The staff on hand went above and beyond and did more work than they absolutely should have been should have been asked to do. They worked themselves harder than they should have had to. That's my opinion. But the work that they did saved a ton of lives on that call.

Were there enough staff on hand that night in your opinion? And if there had been more staff on hand, would that have helped in this emergency situation?

There's sufficient staffing in this city for our day-to-day operations. For a for a for an event like that, you can never have enough staffing. But like I said, if you had more staff there, then yes, things would have things would have happened more efficiently and quickly.

I think he talked about the CNA.

Oh, you're talking about the staff in the building. Staff in the building.

Yes.

There two CNAs on staff.

I can't speak to that. I'm not really sure. I would I would contact Jake Walk on that.

that residents are still yet to the assisted centers. Do you know how many have already been relocated to different assisted living?

I do not have that number. I'll get that and uh maybe we can release that to everybody. I'll get that number. Chief, can you tell us how the um emotional uh situation is with your your folks and what's if any supports that they're being given?

Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, the morning after before the guys left work at 7:00 7:30, peer support was in the stations to kind of just, uh, assess what was going on, assess the mood. I think I've said that I I encouraged all the firefighters on the scene that night to go back to the station and talk about it. I think that's the best thing that they can do and the best way to process

it. It's unfathomable. It's not something that they're going to be able to process easily, but we want to make sure they have the tools to be able to do it. So tomorrow that shift is back at work for the first time. We got a lot on their plate to try to start piecing the the strategies and tactics from that call together. Um but also peer support will be there to continue to monitor

that situation and see if we if we can identify people that might need some more help and encourage them to get it.

Chief, are your fire inspections are they focused on the building or do you work with the staff? Do they also need to be drilling? Is there an evacuation plan? And did you find that was lax in these inspections?

No, I I I I think that our inspections uh require them to have an evacuation plan and fire drills and uh and we would hold them to that and hold them to giving us dates when those were performed.

That were there any windows that like permanently locked, you know, or the trickiness of I would say that's going to be part of the inspectional services report and I would contact Jake Walk on that. Where in the building were the deceased victims located?

Uh my understanding is they were throughout the building. Uh mainly focused on the east side, but throughout the building.

Is there any reason for that?

Uh just location of the fire and smoke.

Okay. Thank you.

Do you know exactly where the fire was sparked? Do you know it was in one wing?

Was it a room? A kitchen? Where was it?

I would contact Jake Walk on that.

Chief, do you know who called 911? Was it residents in the building itself or was it the staff?

Uh we're working on getting the 911 tapes. I know that the very first notification was made through the box alarm through the automatic alarm system. Uh my understanding is that uh police arrived on scene and gave the next update. I don't know about 911 calls, but that's something that I that that we're working on getting the tapes and figuring that out.

So you said you applied for a grant for two firefighters, but a home run would be what? 10.

So we we applied for a grant for five um with the understanding that we would be getting five firefighters back from an EMS uh fire truck. uh that is currently staffed. So that would be a 10 firefighters to be able to put um a fourth firefighter on engine two and a fourth firefighter on engine 9. Um I've been vocal about that at city council meetings at my budget hearings

that I think 15 to 20 would have been uh a home run for a grant, but I also understand that we need to do this in a way that's sustainable once the grant's done. FEMA doesn't want to give you money to hire 20 firefighters and lay off 30 in three years when the grant's done. So um so I will advocate for the most that I can get and and then I work

with what the city works with me.

Do you think the city is safe considering the level of staffing right now?

Absolutely.

How about in terms of I know you can't talk about the investigation and particular things but how is the investigation work? How's it proceeding?

Can you talk a little bit about what's going on?

Yeah, absolutely. So uh so it was a very timeconsuming process the night of the fire to interview all of the witnesses.

That's the very first stage of the investigation. Once the fire was out, they got to go inside and and start to do some of the nuts and bolts stuff with origin and cause. And I think uh right now it's it's really putting together compiling that information and and really making sense of everything. And that's going to take some time because of the amount of information.

Your staff is your staff chief or it's my staff in conjunction with the Department of Fire Services.

I'll estimate how long I do not know. I would ask Jake Walk.

These are all great questions for Jake.

In addition to the 35 River firefighters that responded, how many firefighters from surrounding cities and towns responded and helped in a situation like this? Is there more that could be done to bring in outside firefighters?

Yeah, absolutely. So, we recalled 30 firefighters. So, at the peak of the scene, we had 65 firefighters on scene.

Um, obviously, many of them were there too late to affect any rescues. Um, but they were called in because of the amount of effort that was put in by the original firefighters so we could get them back in their trucks back to quarters and get some rest while we had other firefighters, fresh firefighters on scene to continue the work. Our mutual aid partners in Fall River, we call in, they do a lot of station

coverage for us. Um, we certainly will be looking into whether it was more appropriate for them to go directly to the scene at that fire, but that's something that will come as part of our incident analysis starting tomorrow.

What cities and towns did they come from?

All the surrounding communities. So, Tiveran Somerset uh Westport I believe Freetown.

How of the folks who died? Do you know relationship?

I don't know that. That's Jake War again.

Do you have a monetary value of how much the building?

I do not.

You anticipate reviewing, going, contacting other assisted living facilities in the city to, I don't know, fine-tune plans, make sure this doesn't happen again. I think everything's on the table as a result of this, but it's going to take time for us to to get to that. You know, we we kind of have our plate full right now. Um, and that's probably a uh a function of the legislature, more of a statewide thing

because this any issue that was at that building in Fall River is an issue that's at every one of those buildings in the state. So, thoughts about that about whether they should be higher standards or, you know, I think I'm I'm an advocate for safety. So, anything we can do to to prevent something like that happening again from a safety standpoint, I would say should be on the table and discussed. Do

you have any on that one person that's in critical condition on their condition at this time?

I do not. I just keep getting the update that they remain in critical condition.

One more question.

To your knowledge, did the staff on the facility follow?

I don't have their protocol. I'm not I'm not prepared to answer.

Thank you everybody. I'll be back tomorrow. Heat. Heat.