Amid chaos, priest blessed victims as they were pulled from Gabriel House fire
"We have another deceased coming down," an EMT called amid the chaos. Smoke cascaded from the Gabriel House and fire alarms blared in every direction across the dark night.
The Rev. Michael Racine met the first responders at the side of the building, anointing the victim — a man — with holy oil and prayers as he was carried down a ladder from a sooty window.
Across the parking lot, a makeshift morgue had been assembled. There, over the course of the night, Racine pulled back the blankets covering four other victims — revealing faces flecked with smoke and dirt — and anointed their foreheads and prayed for them, as well.
July 13 was a night the Fall River fire chaplain will never forget.
In a Friday interview, Racine, known as Father Mike, recalled the eerie, repetitive echo of alarms sounding through the former motel-turned-assisted living home where 70 people lived.
"Because you knew there were a lot of rooms there," he said.
Father Michael Racine is the Fall River fire chaplain.Courtesy
Whether they were Catholic or not, Racine said he didn't hesitate to offer a blessing, prayers and spiritual comfort to victims in the immediate moments after their deaths, caused by a five-alarm fire that will go down as a historic tragedy in the South Coast city — and the state .
"I didn't even know who these victims were, and in a case like that, as a Catholic priest, you just automatically assume," Racine said. "You give them the blessing, the sacrament of the sick. You treat them with love and respect as God's children. There's no time to go around, 'Excuse me, are you Catholic?' You do what your heart tells you to do."
Racine was pleased to learn later that all five people he anointed that night were, in fact, Catholic, and his actions brought their families great comfort as they were stricken with grief and shock.
The assisted living facility on Oliver Street shared a name with the archangel who, in the Bible, told Mary she would give birth to Jesus. And the city of Fall River itself is considered heavily Catholic.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River and its Catholic Charities arm have been involved in the aftermath of the fire, collecting donations for survivors and organizing fundraising campaigns.
As part of a growing memorial in front of the burned facility, someone recently placed a sunflower with an attached card that reads, "Gabriel, Hero of God. God gives him STRENGTH. The Archangel of Annunciation."
Dozens of prayer candles depicting Jesus, Saint Jude and Our Lady of Guadalupe line the sidewalk. A wooden cross dangles from a fence.
The memorial for the victims of the fire at the Gabriel House assisted living facility on July 13. Photos were taken on July 19.Gustavo Atencio Flores/MassLive
A fire chaplain's account of the night
The fire broke out in a second-floor studio apartment around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 13. Firefighters arrived at the scene within six minutes of a box alarm, and Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said "flames were blowing out the front door."
First responders commenced their heroic rescues of residents, aided by courageous neighbors who were playing volleyball in a backyard nearby. They shattered windows and pulled people from the flames and suffocating smoke inside, dragging them down ladders to safety.
Firefighters and police officers physically carried residents with mobility challenges and helped them down flights of stairs.
Racine got the call around 10 p.m. and arrived on scene shortly after.
"You didn't need a master's degree to figure out what was going on," he said. "It was what you call controlled chaos."
Most of the building's windows had been broken, and he described smoke "billowing" through the halls.
From then on, Racine was non-stop all night. He anointed half of the victims — also known as Last Rites, a sacrament of the church — and provided support to firefighters who likely had never seen a tragedy of such magnitude. And he offered comfort to surviving residents who were shocked and confused amid the mayhem.
A daughter of one of the first victims removed from the building cried on his shoulder for half an hour, he said. Through tears, she asked if Last Rites had been performed — Racine told her everything had been taken care of.
The fire was knocked down around 10:37 p.m. At the end of the night, nine people were dead and at least 30 injured . A 10th person died five days later.
Racine remained on scene until 3:45 a.m. the next morning, and he had two masses to conduct mere hours later. He began them by addressing the fire with his parishioners and praying for the victims. Some people were already aware of the tragedy, while others had not yet heard the news.
In the days since the fire, Racine has had the opportunity to meet with some of the victims' families at his parishes: St. Bernard Catholic Church in Assonet and St. John Neumann Church in East Freetown. He's encouraged them to "pray for ourselves, too" because burials and funerals have begun — the next step of processing such profound loss.
"They need their faith," he said.
The city's leaders need support, too, Racine said. He's been checking in on the mayor and fire chief, for example.
"This is on their shoulders now," he said.
Racine applauded the intrepid efforts of first responders that night, saying everyone did their jobs — and did them well.
"I do a lot of watching at a fire, and I just said to myself, 'These guys know what they're doing.'"
Deadly Gabriel House fire
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