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 fire broke out at about 9:30 p.m. on Sunday a Fall River assisted living residence, which drew nearly 50 firefighters to the scene and left a vulnerable population calling for help from their windows.

Calls to 911 reporting a fire at an assisted-living facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, began coming in shortly after 9:30 p.m. Sunday, marking the start of a prolonged emergency response to rescue the roughly 70 people who lived there,