Fire breaks out at Somerset nursing home but staff helps prevent it from spreading
Quick action by staff at a Somerset, Massachusetts nursing home helped stop a fire from spreading overnight. The facility is not far from the Gabriel House, the Fall River assisted living facility where 10 people died in a fire last month.
Just after 3:30 a.m. Thursday, firefighters responded to the Somerset Ridge Center, a skilled nursing facility. No injuries were reported.
"They called me this morning, I'm sleeping, and they say your mother-in-law is fine, but the fire is just on the second floor," said Marie Thilus.
The fire at Somerset Ridge was confined to a second-floor community room, and staff helped tackle it before firefighters arrived.
"One of the aides came over and started yelling for help and said there was water everywhere, smoke everywhere," a nurse named Faith said. "So, I grabbed a fire extinguisher, handed it to my aide, and told him go over there, I'm going to finish securing where I am, and I will be over to help."
Somerset Fire Chief Jamison Barros said a combination of factors, staff, a properly functioning fire protection system, and his arriving crews prevented the fire from spreading. But he admits what happened at Gabriel House three weeks ago was still fresh on his mind when the call came in.
"It's an unknown right. What residents are currently staying there, what are their mobility issues, or needs," Barros said. "So always a concern, and it's an unknown until it's known."
Some of the Somerset firefighters were part of the mutual aid response to the fire at the Gabriel House.
Fire drill last week
The chief said the facility does do regular fire drills with residents, and one who didn't want to be identified, told WBZ-TV they drilled just last week likely because of what happened in Fall River.
"They were doing the same procedure last night as they did last week, I just thought it was another drill again," the resident said.
Not all the residents even knew there was a fire, but for those closest to it, staff moved quickly to calm their fears.
"I didn't want them to panic, or become any more scared than they already were," Faith said, "and it seemed to reassure them knowing that the men were here, and we were all in good hands."
The cause of the fire is under investigation.