“We have another deceased coming down,” an EMT called amid the chaos. Smoke cascaded from the Gabriel House and fire alarms blared in every direction across the dark night.
The Rev. Michael Racine met the first responders at the side of the building, anointing the victim — a man — with holy oil and prayers as he was carried down a ladder from a sooty window.
Across the parking lot, a makeshift morgue had been assembled. There, over the course of the night, Racine pulled back the blankets covering four other victims — revealing faces flecked with smoke and dirt — and anointed their foreheads and prayed for them, as well.
July 13 was a night the Fall River fire chaplain will never forget.
In a Friday interview, Racine, known as Father Mike, recalled the eerie, repetitive echo of alarms