A fire engulfed a Massachusetts assisted-living facility, killing 9 people. Here’s what we know

By Hanna Park, Andy Rose and Zoe Sottile

(CNN) — Elderly residents – some in wheelchairs and some dependent on oxygen tanks – were blinded by deadly smoke as they tried to escape an assisted-living facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, which caught fire Sunday evening.

Calls to 911 reporting the fire at Gabriel House began coming in shortly after 9:30 p.m., marking the start of a prolonged emergency response to rescue the roughly 70 people who lived there.

Despite efforts by scores of firefighters – nearly half of whom were off duty at the time – and “every police officer in the city,” nine Gabriel House residents died in the fire, according to officials. Those killed range in age from 61 to 86. Dozens of others were injured, one critically.

Some residents, desperate to escape, hun