Fire at Boston-area senior living facility kills at least nine
About 70 people lived at the Gabriel House assisted living facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, where the fire broke out about 9:30 p.m. on Sunday (0130 GMT Monday), Jake Wark, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Security, said on Monday.
Wark said that about 50 firefighters responded to the incident in Fall River, about 60 miles south of Boston.
The city opened a temporary shelter for surviving residents.
Firefighters rescued numerous occupants of the facility, which is designed for older people to live independently with staff assistance, he said. Several residents were declared dead at the scene, while many others were transported to hospitals, and one person was in critical condition.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey called the fire a tragedy and said the cause was being investigated.
"My heart goes out to those who are waking up to the most horrific news imaginable about their loved ones this morning," she said in a statement.
Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon told the media that some people were hanging from windows when firefighters arrived, the Boston Globe reported.
Gabriel House opened in 1999 and has 100 units, according to state data. Dennis Etzkorn has been the sole director, president and treasurer of Gabriel Care, the corporation that runs the facility, since its founding.
Efforts to reach Etzkorn for comment were unsuccessful.
In 2015, he agreed to pay $950,000 to the state to settle and dismiss charges of fraud brought by the Massachusetts attorney general's office over an alleged scheme of offering kickbacks of $150 for referrals of customers to Gabriel Care who use the state's health insurance company, MassHealth, court records show.
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