‘We lost our neighbors’: Fall River community reacts to fatal assisted living facility fire

A woman who wanted to remain anonymous stopped to bring flowers to the growing memorial outside of Gabriel House.

She lives right down the street and witnessed the immediate aftermath.

“We had just seen all of the police officers and fire trucks and we were like, ‘Oh, something major must be going on.’ When we turned the corner, that’s when we saw the smoke,” she said.

She didn’t know anyone inside, but says she can’t stop thinking about the horror that took place.

“I personally have family members who have passed away due to fire accidents and it is something I don’t wish on any family, and I just pray for the families that had family members in here. Especially being assisted living and elderly people, all of us are touched by that because we have a grandmother, a grandfather,” she said.

“The firefighters did a good job,” said neighbor Carmen Rego. “Very, very quick.”

Rego lives right next door to the facility. She says she just saw smoke.

“It’s so sad. Very, very sad. We don’t know how we end. I use the words of my mother, ‘we don’t know what will happen to us,’” Rego said.

Rego says there’s now a void in the neighborhood, between the lives lost and the other residents forced out of the place they called home.

“It was so nice to see those people coming outside and catch sun, talk to people. It’s so sad,” Rego said. “We lost our neighbors.”

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