After deadly Fall River fire, grief gives way to frustration and solidarity

Boston Globe

17-07-2025

The devastating fire Sunday night that also left 30 people hospitalized and dozens of others displaced has stirred feelings of disbelief and even anger in Fall River, a tightly-knit community on Massachusetts' South Coast. Some have resolved to help the victims and survivors however they can. Many are questioning whether the fire was preventable.
Nina Amaral of New Bedford sorted through donations inside the chapel at Catholic Charities in Fall River on July 16.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
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'It's like, how does that happen,' said Rosa Vieira, a bartender at the nearby Clipper restaurant, which serves traditional Portuguese sirloin and seafood dishes
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'How do nine people die? It doesn't make sense.'
At the restaurant, just a few blocks north of Gabriel House, the sense of frustration was palpable, with patrons exchanging pointed words over television news broadcasts about the fire
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Sweating over a Portuguese lager Tuesday afternoon, owner Clement Raposo excoriated the facility, as well as city officials, for what he characterized as their derelict approach to safety.
The building, he claimed, was known around town as being unsafe and 'filthy' inside. Raposo said a patron of the bar had lived, until Sunday, at Gabriel House, and thankfully had survived the fire. He said the patron told him
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'Now they're doing a big investigation,' Raposo said. 'What good is that? People already died.'
Fall River is home to about 95,000 residents and includes a large immigrant community that has traditionally been Portuguese but in more recent years has included more
It is also one of Massachusetts' poorest cities, where over 20 percent of the population falls below the poverty line. At Gabriel House, more than 75 percent of residents were on MassHealth, the state's Medicaid plan.
Many in the community have expressed concern that the living home's elderly residents
Members of the State Police were on the scene of the Gabriel House fire in Fall River on July 16.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Raposo said he'd heard that the fire department was understaffed — a claim made by the firefighters union, and
'I don't know if it would have saved lives,' said fire chief Jeffrey Bacon said Tuesday. 'That's speculation.'
Raposo said it would be devastating if those claims were found to be true: 'you gotta pay them,' he said.
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Chelsea Cote, 33, works down the street from Gabriel House as a cashier at a hot dog restaurant, greeting customers by name as they walk in the door and order onion rings or 'a dog with the works.' She also has a second job caring for senior citizens.
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'A lot of people around here need help,' she said. 'There are lots of people who are struggling, who don't have families or support or people to care for them.'
This part of town, she said, is not exactly idyllic. Kennedy Park, a historic area near Gabriel House designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1860s, is encircled by idling cars and open air drug use.
'There are always going to be drugs,' Cote said. 'But I don't get in trouble anymore... I was able to dig my way out.'
Bryan Boyle, a longtime resident of Fall River, said the city has seen better days.
'Fall River is ugly,' he said. 'I don't mean it in a pejorative sense. I mean that it's an old, old city. There's a lot of opioid problems here. There's crime.'
Boyle, a staff member at St. Anne's Catholic Shrine, said he stills finds moments of inspiration in his hometown. The day of the fire, as the Gabriel House smoldered just a few blocks away, the church's massive towers were lit up, as they are every night, shining over the neighborhood.
'We don't expect to lose nine souls, nine citizens, regardless of the reason,' said Boyle, 68. 'It's not anything to be happy about... But in the middle of that, there's hope.'
The imposing Romanesque church has been mostly vacant for years, but still draws hundreds for its periodic masses and feasts, including several Gabriel House residents, Boyle said. All the worshippers at St. Anne's are believed to have survived, he added.
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Boyle was born at St. Anne's Hospital, just down the road from the living home, and stayed in the building when it was a still a motel in the 1970s. He also carries the memories of another blaze in 1982 that
'I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often,' Boyle said. 'We've had so many mill fires here, so many horrendous fires ... The fact is that the old buildings here are very fragile. The owners really have to protect them.'
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At the city's Catholic diocese Wednesday, residents in cars and pickup trucks
Gino Raposa, of Fall River (center) carried in donations to the chapel at Catholic Charities in Fall River on July 16.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
'We have relatives handicapped at home right now being taken care by family,' said Linda Furtado, 47, of Acushnet. 'But if we didn't have family members who could take care of them, they could have very well been in a home like that.'
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Dube, at the memorial, said that while some people hear about Fall River and think of violence, the community runs deeper.
'It's brought a lot of us together,' she said. 'I know that for a fact.'
Krista Cormier, who has lived in Fall River for seven years, also stopped by Gabriel House Wednesday to honor the dead, putting a bouquet of purple and blue flowers outside. She said she heard purple was a 'healing color.'
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'It's been heavy on my heart all week,' she said. 'I came out to pay respects for the ones who have passed on, but especially family, friends, loved ones too.'
Cormier, 46, said she's 'proud' of her community.
'How quickly people came together, not only just spiritually, but I've heard thousands of dollars have already been raised in no time for these folks… even just the outpouring of love and support and whatnot.'
'Fall River is an awesome community,' she added.
For now, Boyle said, all the city can do is pray for the victims and help their families. Fall River is resilient, he said, noting that the city has reinvented itself 'so many times.'
'The town will do what it does,' he said. 'It'll recover. It'll be better. People will do what they need to do in order to make it better. Certainly, you mourn the loss. But you don't wear the black armband forever.'
Camilo Fonseca can be reached at