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.

Shirley Chambra was outside smoking a cigarette when she saw sparks and then flames at her home: the Gabriel House assisted-living facility in Fall River, Massachusetts.

A fire broke out at about 9:30 p.m. on Sunday a Fall River assisted living residence, which drew nearly 50 firefighters to the scene and left a vulnerable population calling for help from their windows.