DEDHAM, Mass. — Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon joined Boston 25 Morning News on Tuesday and answered questions from anchor Nicole Gabe about Sunday night’s fire at an assisted-living facility that claimed the lives of nine residents and left dozens of others hospitalized.
What challenges did firefighters face?
Bacon said the conditions first responders faced at Gabriel House were “incredibly difficult.”
Firefighters had to use ladders to rescue many residents.
“The crews were faced with an incredibly difficult situation. A fire is a difficult situation, a rescue is a difficult situation,” Bacon said. “When you combine the two at the level this call asked for, it was almost an impossible situation.”
Is the Fall River Fire Department adequately staffed?
A firefighters union said inadequate staffing hindered the response to the blaze and contributed to the death toll.
Bacon acknowledged the concerns but questioned the timing of raising the discussion.
“This is an issue that Fall River is not alone in. I would say municipal fire chiefs across the Commonwealth and probably across the nation in communities like Fall River have been fighting this battle for years,” Bacon said. “Adequately staffed and staffed to standards are two different conversations.”
Bacon added, “These are conversations that are important. I question the timing of it without really affecting my relationship with the union, which is really good at this point.”
Are you aware of any past complaints or coding issues at Gabriel House?
Gabriel House opened in 1999 and has 100 units, according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Aging and Independence.
Its website promotes studio apartments “for those seniors who cannot afford the high-end of assisted living.”
Bacon said his department wasn’t immediately aware of any issues over the last year.
“We have a guy coming in today to pull all the records from our end on this,” Bacon said. “There’s none that any of us could think of, certainly over the last year. But we’re going to look back three years to make sure there weren’t any violations.”
How deadly can smoke really be?
Firefighters battling the blaze were met with heavy smoke. Some residents were left disoriented and couldn’t navigate through the thickness of the smoke to get to emergency exits.
The fire damage was contained to one wing in the building, but there is smoke damage throughout the facility, according to Bacon.
“Fire prevention is certainly important, but smoke safety has to go hand-in-hand with that. With today’s combustibles being almost everything in our house, everything we wear, everything around us is petroleum-based,” Bacon said. “That creates a dark, thick, dense, deadly black smoke that spreads rapidly. It not only causes panic, it could kill you with just a couple of breaths.”
Bacon also reminded the public of the importance of having working smoke alarms.
“I’m not suggesting the people, based on their mobility issues, could have escaped given the situation, but for anybody else, that lesson is when you hear those smoke detectors going off, they’re going off for a reason,” Bacon said. “The most important thing you can do is get yourself to safety.”
What is the Fall River Fire Department doing to check in on the mental health of firefighters?
“Mental health is everything. I think that in the past, firefighters, certainly in public safety, have had harmful ways of dealing with mental stress,” Bacon said. “I’m committed to making sure we give them healthy avenues to relieve that stress, to make sure that they’re OK knowing that they can talk about these issues.”
Bacon continued, “I’ve been in mental health counseling for 15 years. A lot of it is because of the things I’ve done and seen on this job, and I’m happy to talk about that with anybody. My message to the firefighters before they left the scene was to go back to the station and talk about this.”
What comes next for the fire department and the city?
Officials say that although the investigation remains ongoing, the cause does not appear to be suspicious.
“We’re still waiting for results on this investigation. It’s an extremely thorough investigation and extremely sensitive given the fact that nine people died,” Bacon explained. “We owe it to everybody to get this investigation done quickly, but we need to do it right. So, that’s really where we are right now.”
Bacon added, “We’re going to look at what we need to change, what we did right. We did a lot of things right at that fire, a lot of things right. I think 39, 49 fatalities was there when we pulled up. It’s a miracle and a testament to the fact that public safety in Fall River, between police, fire, and EMS, was able to save that many lives.”
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