$1.2M state grant aims to boost Mass. city's FD staffing after deadly blaze

By Charlie McKenna
masslive.com

FALL RIVER, Mass. — The state intends to provide Fall River a grant worth $1.2 million to help boost staffing levels in its fire department in the wake of a deadly fire that killed 10 people at an assisted living facility .

Gov. Maura Healey made the announcement during a press conference at City Hall Tuesday morning, flanked by the city’s mayor, Paul Cogan and numerous other state and local officials. The money going to the city is coming out of a pool of $5.7 million allocated for 10 communities across the state through its Municipal Public Safety Staffing Program.

| WATCH: Body camera video: Firefighters, police rescue dozens in Mass. assisted living fire

“We’re expediting this in light of the tragedy, again, with significant funding going to Fall River as well as going to nine other communities that are eligible by law,” Healey said. “All of us ... are of the deep view that no family, no resident, no community, should ever have to suffer or live with fear that something like this could happen to them or to their loved one.”

The announcement came more than a week after a 5-alarm fire ripped through the Gabriel House assisted living facility, and just days after Coogan announced he and the union representing the city’s firefighters had reached a deal to increase staffing.

Coogan told reporters the infusion of money from the state was the same as the funds he announced had been allocated last week.

“It is that money, but it’s also now, it’s right here in the works. Before, we were just talking about it. Now we’re going to be able to get it,” he said.

Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said he hopes to ultimately hire 22 new firefighters for his department, bringing it to 200 total. Doing so would allow the city to meet the national standard of having four firefighters on each of its engine companies, he said.

Still, Bacon refused to say definitively the new funding would have made a difference at the fire scene. Healey said the announcement was not a reflection of the department being understaffed, but a reflection of her commitment to public safety.

Healey also addressed the new measures her administration announced last week that are aimed at increasing safety in assisted living facilities. Among those measures was a survey that all 273 facilities in the state will be required to complete within 30 days to confirm the fire safety measures they have in place.

“We are always going to look, and it is a responsibility of government, to take stock and to look at what happened, and are there things that could be done or should be done differently with regard to assisted living facilities or other places that house people, particularly vulnerable residents?” she said.

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