Another lawsuit has been filed in connection with a devastating July fire at a Fall River assisted living facility that killed 10 people, according to court records.
Former Gabriel House resident Michael P. Croley, 78, who survived the blaze that tore through the home on July 13, filed his suit on Aug. 29 in Bristol Superior Court against the home, owners Dennis A. Etzkorn and Karen Etzkorn, and Fire Systems Inc., a Dartmouth-based company that provided safety equipment to the facility, according to legal filings.
Croley’s civil complaint, echoing allegations in several other lawsuits filed against the home, alleged that the facility “was not properly managed, staffed, maintained or supervised” at the time of the fire.
Authorities have determined the fire was accidental and the possible combined result of medical oxygen and smoking materials in a resident’s second-floor room.
Croley’s suit said “residency rules were not enforced, particularly as to smoking on the premises. Furthermore, staff was inadequately trained, and emergency response procedures were nonexistent or inadequate.”
The civil complaint said Crowley, who had lost a leg and an arm before the fire, and the other surviving residents were “displaced and traumatized” by the tragedy.
Croley was carried naked out of the home by two firefighters, the lawsuit said.
His suit said Fire Systems was contracted to install, inspect, test, and maintain the fire alarms and sprinkler system in the building, although the company said it conducted only “periodic inspection and testing” according to its service agreement with Gabriel House.
“At the time of the fire, the fire suppression/sprinkler system failed to work, and there was no emergency lighting that was activated,” the lawsuit said, adding that “the fire alarm, smoke detection, and fire suppression devices were inadequate or inoperable, and failed to provide sufficient warning” of the fire.
A Fire Systems spokesperson said the company “has conducted periodic inspection and testing of the Gabriel House fire alarm and sprinkler system in accordance with its service agreement, applicable standards of the National Fire Protection Association, and local requirements.”
Croley was hospitalized for injuries he sustained in the fire, the lawsuit said.
He “suffered conscious pain and suffering, emotional distress, and lost most of his belongings” in the fire, according to the complaint, which claimed $100,000 in damages.
Croley is seeking financial damages along with compensation for “interest and costs of suit,” records show.
A Gabriel House spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday. None of the defendants had formally responded to Croley’s suit in court as of Wednesday morning.
A spokesperson for the home and for Dennis Etzkorn has previously referred the Globe to a statement Etzkorn made soon after the blaze, in which he said he was “devastated for the victims of the July 13 fire at the home and their families.”
For 25 years, Etzkorn continued, “we have worked hard to provide homes to many people who needed us. Ensuring that the building was safe was always paramount for us. Our residents were more than tenants — they were our neighbors, our friends, and part of our unique Gabriel House family. We, too, deeply mourn their loss.”
Last month, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed in the same courthouse on behalf of Margaret Duddy, who perished in the fire.
Four previous lawsuits, filed by survivors, allege bodily injury and property damage and seek compensation for costs, loss, and suffering, court records show.
In his statement, Etzkorn said he has “worked closely with all the investigators to determine exactly what happened, and why a fire that should have been contained to one room spread beyond that point of origin, in light of all our inspections.”
He said he has “provided investigators with all records related to the building’s safety, including documentation of regular inspections of the sprinkler system by the vendor. The most recent inspection was done on July 8, five days before the fire, and the system was reported to be in working order.”
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.