Firefighters recount saving people from Fall River fire and how they're supporting each other
More than five days after the deadly Gabriel House fire in Fall River, Massachusetts, firefighters reflect on response and their own recovery and the toll it takes on their mental health.
Fall River Lt. Paul Machado arrived on the scene at the Gabriel House Assisted Living Facility and saw utter chaos last Sunday night.
Recounting fatal fire
"Almost every window had somebody in there screaming for help and we switched to ground ladder rescue operations and started taking people out," said Machado.
District Fire Chief David Jennings said he fought back the urge to have tunnel vision as dozens of people called for help. He directed his firefighters to put multiple ladders against the building at a time.
"Some of the larger patients we had to throw a second ladder side by side, just to be able to get the patient down safely," said Jennings.
Captain Frank O'Reagan was called in off-duty. He responded to the scene without his breathing apparatus but decided to assist with searches on the third floor of the building where rescues were still happening, 40 minutes after crews arrived on the scene.
"I forget what the order was but like, another body. I just couldn't believe it. I'm like, there's another one," O'Reagan said. "By that time, I'm really starting to like cough and gag and I went back and then I saw an arm and I just yelled and then two guys with tanks on and masks just kind of bowled me over and grabbed the person."
Coping with toll on mental health
It has been over five days since the fire that killed nine residents and sent roughly 30 people to the hospital. WBZ-TV spoke with four firefighters about their experiences and how they are processing what happened.
"And then you go home and you lay down to try and sleep and then you're wide awake, as exhausted as you are," Machado said.
"For me it was like, ah, jeez, and I'm sure for many of the guys, like what could we have done more to save more people, like second guessing ourselves," Jennings said.
Lt. Jason Burns is a Fall River fire fighter who responded to the scene. He is also a chief peer support firefighter for his district, helping other first responders with their mental health.
"It's helping your teammates get through some difficult times through the eyes of someone who's done your job," said Burns about his peer support responsibilities.
Burns is also the executive director of the Last Call Foundation, a non-profit working to improve safety conditions for firefighters. The organization is also funding research on first responder PTSD.
Burns, a 30-year member of the Fall River Fire Department, said processing the Gabriel House fire is difficult.
"Emotional", he said, "those are my guys."
Fall River firefighters lost one of their own from suicide just over a decade ago. Even after Sunday's exhausting rescues, they said they are still determined to rescue each other.
"I'm one of the most stoic compartmentalization-type people but I'm being better at saying 'Hey, I'm not doing well,'" Burns said.
"Call everybody in two months, call everybody in six months, a year down the road because once this interaction with the community, once all the media's gone, it's us," Machado said.
