By Irene Rotondo
masslive.com
Though fire deaths dropped in Massachusetts last year, the state saw its deadliest blaze in decades — a Fall River assisted living facility fire that killed 10 people — even as most fatal fires happened at homes and many without smoke alarms.
A total of 44 people died from 30 fires statewide in 2025, according to the Department of Fire Services, excluding fatal fires that started from a car crash. This is down by 12% from the 50 fire deaths that happened in 2024.
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One child, a 4-year-old girl from North Adams, was killed by a fire in the last year, while 24 people aged 65 or older died in fires — more than half of the victims, the office said.
Many of those numbers come from the catastrophic Gabriel House assisted living facility fire in July, which killed 10 people. It was the greatest loss of life from a single fire that Massachusetts has experienced more than 40 years, the office said.
In the aftermath, survivors and relatives of those who died have filed multiple lawsuits against facility owner Dennis Etzkorn and Fire Systems Inc., the company contracted to inspect the fire suppression system. The two parties are also locked in a separate legal battle, each blaming the other for the system’s failure.
At least eight civil lawsuits filed since uniformly assert negligence, claiming the sprinkler system was known to be defective and that the assisted living facility was not properly managed, supervised or inspected.
The unsafe use or disposal of smoking materials remained the leading cause for fatal fires, accounting for 21 deaths in 2025, what investigators believe was the combined cause with oxygen tanks in the Gabriel House fire.
The state fire marshal’s office noted it was unusual for the Gabriel House fire to have happened in July, as the majority occurred in cold months. November was the second leading month with nine deaths, followed by March and October with four each.
And though the Gabriel House fire accounted for the highest number of deaths in a single fire, the majority began at home, the office noted. A total of 14 people died in single-family homes, nine in apartments or multi-family homes, four in mobile homes in three people inside two-family homes.
This includes the death of 21-year-old Kayla Corrigan, a woman killed in a fire at her home in Needham on Dec. 24 . Corrigan was a senior in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University studying marketing management and was on track to graduate this spring.
Seventy-five firefighters from departments across the region had battled for seven hours Wednesday morning to bring the flames under control at the Needham home, the office of State Fire Marshal John M. Davine said. Two other adults in the home escaped and the cause was deemed “not suspicious,” the Department of Fire Services said.
Most fatal fires in 2025 occurred overnight, between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m., the office said. Of the 40 residential fire deaths last year, smoke alarm status could be determined in 30 cases, and only 16 homes had working alarms. The rest were missing or not functioning.
“Sadly, the places we should feel safest — our homes — are where most people lose their lives to fire,” State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine said.
The numbers underscore how lifesaving working smoke alarms are, Davine said.
“ ... we have less time to escape a fire at home than ever before,” Davine said, pointing to modern construction and synthetic furnishings that allow flames to spread faster and produce more toxic smoke. “Working smoke alarms give you that warning before it’s too late.”
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