The scene outside Gabriel House, the assisted living facility that saw a deadly fire over the weekend, was solemn Wednesday, as mourners placed flowers and lit candles, some praying, others standing silently, some imagining the scene over the weekend that left nine residents dead.

There’s no doubt in my mind that that fire was destined to kill 50-plus people,” Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said Wednesday.

When the deadly fire broke out Sunday night at Gabriel House in Fall River, Massachusetts, the assisted living facility had 70 residents and just two staff members working, according to the mayor and an employee.

You could have had 100 firefighters show up on that scene and it wouldn’t have been enough,” the fire chief said at a news briefing outside the fire department’s headquarters Tuesday.

A blaze at a Massachusetts assisted-living home Sunday killed a musician, a secretary, a veteran Army sharpshooter and six other people. Some in her family say Gabriel House wasn’t

River's building department released certificates of inspection for the assisted living facility where nine people died in a fire, Sunday night.

At a press conference Tuesday, July 15, outside FRFD headquarters, Bacon said the city has typically relied on overtime for coverage in the event of a crisis -- but in an event like the Gabriel House “you can never have enough staff,” and that he is primarily focused on the lives that were saved.

River fire chief gave a harrowing recount of the night nine people were killed in a fire at the Gabriel House.