Fire chiefs in Mass. city where 9 people died in nursing home blaze blame mayor for budget cuts

Furious fire chiefs in the Massachusetts city where nine people died in a blaze at a nursing home overnight are blaming the mayor for the deaths after cuts to the fire service allegedly left crews dangerously understaffed.

Describing the deadly fire as “not only a tragedy, but a travesty,” Edward Kelly, President of the International Association of Fire Fighters, directly blamed Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan for the cuts to vital services in the city some 15 miles southeast of Providence, Rhode Island.

“Lives would have been saved if the Fall River Fire Department was adequately staffed,” Kelly told a press conference in the town on Monday afternoon.

“Fall River Fire Department runs with 10 fire companies. Only two of them are staffed at national standards with four firefighters on those companies. The other eight fire companies only have three firefighters on them,” the representative said.

If the staffing had been at nationally recommended levels, eight more firefighters would have been at the scene, Kelly said.

Union officials blamed decades of staff cutbacks and the closing of fire companies for Sunday night’s tragedy at the Gabriel House facility.