Press Release  Preliminary Findings on the Origin and Cause of the Gabriel House Fire

FALL RIVER — Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III, State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine, Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon, and Fall River Police Chief Kelly Furtado today released the following preliminary findings on the origin and cause of the July 13, 2025, fire at the Gabriel House assisted living facility, which claimed ten residents’ lives and injured dozens more.

“The Gabriel House fire represented the greatest loss of life to fire in Massachusetts in more than 40 years,” said District Attorney Quinn. “It was one of the worst fire-related disasters in the state’s modern history and an unprecedented tragedy for the community of Fall River.  We join the victims’ families, the survivors, and the Fall River community in mourning. I hope these initial findings provide some measure of understanding to the families and loved ones.”

“It was only through the heroic efforts of Fall River’s first responders that the scope of the tragedy was not much worse,” said Chief Bacon. “I especially want to recognize the firefighters who effected dozens of rescues over ladders and through the interior of the building while suppressing the raging flames. On behalf of Mayor Coogan and the City of Fall River, I want to express our continued condolences to the families that lost loved ones and the survivors who lost their home and friends at Gabriel House.”

“Ten vulnerable residents, primarily older adults and people with limited mobility, perished in the Gabriel House fire,” said State Fire Marshal Davine. “Nearly three dozen residents and firefighters were injured. Investigators proceeded carefully, methodically, and diligently to speak on their behalf. That work has been marked by seamless collaboration with our partners in Fall River and Bristol County, and we are deeply grateful.”

“The Fall River Police Department is dedicated to the protection and welfare of our residents and our hearts are broken at the loss our community suffered last week,” said Chief Furtado. “Across agencies, across disciplines, and across the City of Fall River, we will continue to support vital investigations like this one to promote public safety.”

The investigation into the origin and cause of the Gabriel House fire is being conducted jointly by the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office and State Police Detectives assigned to their Office, Fall River Fire Department, Fall River Police Department and the State Police Fire Investigation Unit assigned to the State Fire Marshal’s office. These investigators have been supported by contracted electrical inspectors and the State Police Bomb Squad, Collision Analysis & Reconstruction Section, and Drone Unit. While their work is ongoing, investigators have reached a level of confidence in certain initial findings sufficient to share them publicly. The initial findings are as follows.

Fire investigation is the process of determining the origin and cause of a fire – that is, where the fire started and what started it. Investigators collectively determined this fire’s area of origin through careful review and examination of the entire structure; the inspection of burn patterns, charring, and smoke damage; preliminary interviews conducted with numerous witnesses; a review of video evidence from public and private cameras in the area; and other evidence. Based on these factors, they established that the fire began in a resident’s room, approximately 8’ wide by 10’ long, located on the left side of the second floor of the structure.

Investigators found no evidence of an intentionally set fire in this room. They found no signs that cooking, lighting, heating, electrical outlets, or other appliances contributed to ignition. They found no candles, incense, or related items. They did locate the damaged remains of a battery-powered scooter, but they have effectively ruled out a failure of its battery.

Investigators also identified an oxygen concentrator and numerous smoking materials in the room of origin. They developed hypotheses by which either of these could have ignited a fire but were unable to test them.Tragically, the occupant of this room was among those who lost their lives on July 13, and investigators could not obtain an account of the fire in its beginning stages. As a result, the extent of the damage left investigators unable to confirm or rule out an electrical or mechanical failure involving the oxygen concentrator or the improper use or disposal of smoking materials as the exact cause of the fire.

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 921, Guide for Fire & Explosions Investigations, provides an internationally recognized framework for developing evidence-based opinions on origin, cause, and other facets of fire investigation. It recommends that fire investigators consider a fire cause undetermined “in circumstances where … two or more hypotheses cannot be rejected.” For these reasons, investigators have at this time classified the cause of the fire as undetermined with two possible ignition sources, both of which were clearly accidental.

Regardless of the exact cause, investigators believe the presence of medical oxygen in the area of origin and in other rooms throughout the structure played a significant role in the fire’s rapid spread. Oxygen is a necessary component of any fire. In an oxygen-rich environment such as Gabriel House, a fire will ignite more readily, burn at higher temperatures, and spread more rapidly. In fact, home oxygen was a known factor in about 20 fire deaths and more than three dozen injuries in Massachusetts over the past 10 years, and it was a suspected factor in many more. Most of these incidents involved smoking materials, with candles representing the second-leading factor. Tragically, as with the Gabriel House fire, the victims were almost all older adults who were at increased risk due to age, health, or mobility issues.

In addition to the origin and cause investigation, the property’s compliance with the life safety requirements of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Fire Safety Code and State Building Code are being assessed by the Fall River Fire Department’s Fire Prevention Bureau, the Department of Fire Services’ Code Compliance & Enforcement Unit, DFS fire protection engineers, and the Bristol County District Attorney’s office.

Due to the large number of relevant records, some of which are in the custody of third-party contractors requiring various processes to obtain, and the exacting process of checking them against the appropriate regulations and investigators’ findings, this effort will likely remain active for weeks or months to come.

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