Gabriel House fire in Fall River, Massachusetts may have been caused by smoking or oxygen device failure
The cause of the deadly fire at the Gabriel House assisted living home in Fall River, Massachusetts last week is still officially undetermined, but investigators have narrowed it down to two possibilities: smoking or the failure of a resident's oxygen device.
State Fire Marshal Jon Davine said the fire started in a resident's room on the left side of the second floor. Investigators found an oxygen concentrator and numerous smoking materials in the room.
"Tragically the occupant was among those who lost their lives on July 13th. And we could not speak to that resident and get an account of the fire at its earliest stages," Davine said. "As a result, the available evidence left to them was two possible causes - one was an electrical or mechanical failure involving the oxygen concentrator. The other was improper use or disposal of smoking materials."
Smoking is the leading cause of fatal fires in the country, Davine said. Regardless of the exact cause of the Fall River fire, Davine said the presence of medical oxygen "played a significant role in the fire's rapid spread and the ensuing tragedy."
Ten people were killed and more than 30 people were hurt in the fire on Sunday, July 13. It was the deadliest fire in Massachusetts in 41 years.
Fall River fire investigation
Investigators have been looking into a number of issues, including the possibility that it was caused by smoking near an oxygen tank, according to WBZ-TV I-Team sources.
The sources said investigators are also looking into the possibility that the building's sprinkler system may have been clogged and not working properly.
A spokesman for Gabriel House owner Dennis Etzkorn said in a statement Monday that there were "quarterly inspections of the fire suppression system - the latest as recently as five days prior to the fire" and "that test reported the sprinkler system to be in working order."
The spokesman also said authorities took "several sprinkler heads for further investigation."
Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan said only two people were working at Gabriel House when the fire broke out. An employee told CBS News both workers were new to the job. There were 70 residents at the home during the fire.
Fall River to get $1.2 million from state
Coogan met with Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey at Fall River City Hall late Tuesday morning to discuss the city's response to the fire in the last week.
At a news conference afterwards, Healey said the state will be giving $1.2 million to Fall River to "hire more emergency response personnel." Three days after the fire, the city agreed with the firefighters union to increase staffing at the fire department.
Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said the money will help pay for current overtime expenses and allow the department to come up with a "financial model to hire sufficient firefighters to not have that reliance on overtime to staff the department properly."
