Survivors of the Gabriel House Fire Moved to Fall River’s Overflow Homeless Shelter

FALL RIVER ─ “It was a fire waiting to happen.”

That is how Tammy Stephens described the Gabriel House, the assisted living facility that caught fire Sunday night and claimed nine lives and injured at least 30 other residents. 

Stephen’s brother, Christopher Bessette, 61, a resident at the facility, barely escaped with his life.

Blind and paralyzed on one side of his body, Bessette jumped from a third-floor window. Stephen’s said neighbors urged him to jump while they held open a blanket to break his fall.

Bessette’s girlfriend, who lived on the same floor, perished in the fire.

Stephens, Bessette and their sister, Holly DeLuca, were among the dozens of surviving residents and their families at the Timeo Center on Bay Street where residents spent the night. The center is an overflow homeless shelter.

Michael Pimentel, who is wheelchair bound with two amputated legs, had to pull the window to his unit off its tracks before firefighters could get to rescue him from the burning building.

Pimentel broke down at one point when he learned that EMS Director Bethann Faunce arranged to have the box containing his mother’s ashes retrieved from his residence and brought to him at the Timeo Center.

Michael Nunes said he had only been living at the Gabriel House for one week before he was driven out by the deadly fire.

Stephens said there have been issues at the Gabriel House, that includes an elevator at the three-story assisted living facility that had been broken for over a year.

“I called the City and complained. They said they would look into it. I don’t know if they ever did,” said Stephens.

Monday morning, city officials including Mayor Paul Coogan were at the fire scene then later at the Timeo Center. Nursing staff was on hand taking the residents vitals

Around noon, Coogan said his administration had secured 20 beds at a North End nursing home and that at one p.m., a trolley was coming to transport them to the facility.

Coogan said they were working on getting the residents’ medications that were left behind with all their other possessions.

Gabriel House owner

Dennis Etzkorn is the owner of the Gabriel House and has other facilities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Etzkorn arrived at the Timeo Center Monday morning after being on scene at the assisted living facility where he was speaking with fire officials.

Etzkorn declined to respond to questions about the conditions at Gabriel House before the fire, including whether the facilities elevator had been inoperable for some time.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.