Fall River releases certificates of inspection for Gabriel House
Fall River's building department released certificates of inspection Tuesday for Gabriel House, the assisted living facility where nine people died in a fire Sunday night.
The reports do not detail any of the conditions inside the complex, which was converted to an assisted living facility in 1996. The reports do show a timeline of inspection by the city department.
According to city records, the building was inspected annually between 1996 and 2006. Then, the building department began inspecting the facility every 5 years.
When the certificate of inspection for Gabriel House expired in 2022, records provided to WBZ-TV do not show that an inspection happened between then and 2024, a two-year gap. The latest city inspection occurred in October of 2024 and that certificate is set to expire in October 2025.
Employee on conditions inside facility
One day after the deadly fire, employees and residents told WBZ about health and sanitation issues at the facility.
"They had mice. They had cockroaches, infested with cockroaches, bed bugs. It was dirty, very dirty," said Debbie Johnson, a certified nursing assistant who worked at Gabriel House. "The elevator has been broken for the last four years, off and on forever and there's people stuck in their rooms, have to have their food brought to them."
Another employee, who did not want to give her name, said she was unaware of any issues with the facility.
State inspection in 2023
Separate from the city inspections, during a 2023 state review, inspectors found issues with Gabriel House and issued a correction plan which included more training for certified nursing assistants and better cleaning and maintenance of medication boxes.
During a news briefing on Tuesday, Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon did not respond to questions about inspections at the facility, citing the ongoing investigation.
Bacon responded to allegations by the state and local fire union that his department is understaffed and has three firefighters per truck instead of four, which is the national standard.
"Absolutely, if you gave me eight more firefighters on that scene, we're throwing more ladders, we're affecting more rescues more efficiently. That's a fact. I don't know if lives could have been saved or if it would have changed the incident at all," Bacon said.
Bacon said he applied for a grant to get more firefighters on the job.
The city has not yet provided WBZ with health or fire inspection reports of the Gabriel House location.
