Shirley Chambra was outside smoking a cigarette when she saw sparks and then flames at her home: the Gabriel House assisted-living facility in Fall River, Massachusetts.

A Sunday night fire at an assisted living facility in Fall River that took the lives of nine residents has left the dozens of the home’s surviving residents in need of basic essentials.

River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon deferred all questions about the fire investigation to the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services.

The names of seven of the nine people who died in the Fall River fire on July 13 have been released to the public.

Mice, cockroaches and beds without sheets were a part of life at the Gabriel House in Fall River, according to a current employee, long before Sunday’s fire that killed nine residents and injured 30 at the assisted living facility.

Survivors are speaking out after a fire at a Massachusetts assisted living facility killed nine people as staff and firefighters are being criticized for how they responded to the blaze.

It’s important to note that these allegations did not involve the Gabriel House assisted living facility and were unrelated to safety concerns.