The Massachusetts assisted-living facility where a fatal fire killed nine people was caring for dozens of aging residents reliant on wheelchairs and oxygen tanks, but it lacked the safety measures and most of the staffing requirements that are commonplace in nursing homes.

Gabriel House was an assisted living residence, according to the state of Massachusetts. Here's how the state defines that

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.

A blaze at a Massachusetts assisted-living home Sunday killed a musician, a secretary, a veteran Army sharpshooter and six other people.

Around 50 firefighters, including dozens who were off-duty, rushed to Gabriel House in downtown Fall River just before 10 p.m. local time Sunday.

More than 75 percent of Gabriel House residents are enrolled in Medicaid, state officials have said, and it charges significantly less than a typical assisted living facility does for private-paying patients.

A former employee said she never saw the staff perform fire drills. The local fire chief pushed back at claims that dispatching more firefighters would’ve saved more lives.