Elderly residents – some in wheelchairs and some dependent on oxygen tanks – were blinded by deadly smoke as they tried to escape an assisted-living facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, which caught fire Sunday evening.

As flames tore through a Fall River assisted living residence Sunday night, nearly 50 firefighters rushed to rescue the vulnerable population calling for help from their windows. The fire killed nine residents and injured 30 at the Gabriel House Assisted Living Residence.

Flames roared through an assisted-living residence in Massachusetts, killing nine people, injuring 30 others and trapping residents inside.