Overview

• Firefighters described racing inside the smoke-choked, three-story building and using ladders and makeshift pulleys to evacuate wheelchair-dependent residents.
• Four additional fire trucks will now carry at least four firefighters each, boosting the department’s shift roster from 35 to 38 personnel.
• About 30 residents and five firefighters suffered injuries during the rescue efforts, and Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said a heavier toll was averted by the department’s swift actions.
• State and local authorities continue probing the blaze, narrowed to an accidental ignition from either an oxygen concentrator malfunction or smoldering smoking materials without a definitive conclusion.
• Dennis Etzkorn, owner of Gabriel House, has pledged full cooperation with investigators and expects to return residents’ personal possessions by the end of next week.