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.

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.

The eighth victim in the fatal fire that ripped through the Gabriel House assisted living facility in Fall River on Sunday has been identified. Joseph Wilansky, 77, was identified by Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III on Wednesday.

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 Massachusetts assisted-living center where nine residents died in a fire was cited for failing to immediately report more than two dozen health and safety incidents.

A deadly fire at a Massachusetts assisted living home on Sunday highlights the need for federal legislation strengthening oversight of such facilities, according to long-term care resident