Donna Murphy, a resident at the Gabriel House assisted living facility, in Fall River, Mass., speaks with members of the media outside a temporary shelter on Monday in Fall River, Mass., following a fire at the Gabriel House that started late Sunday and resulted in multiple fatalities. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Flames roared through an assisted-living facility in Massachusetts, killing nine people and trapping residents inside, including some who leaned out of windows and screamed for help, authorities said Monday. At least 30 people were hurt.

A firefighters union said inadequate staffing hindered the response to the blaze and contributed to the death toll, though the mayor criticized that characterization, and the fire chief suggested no number of first responders would have been enough. Meanwhile, several residents who praised firefighters and police for heroic rescue efforts said staff members did little to help.

“They didn’t knock on one door,” Robert Cabral said. “They just ran.”

Firefighters responded to the Gabriel House facility in Fall River, about 50 miles south of Boston, at about 9:50 p.m. Sunday and were met with heavy smoke and flames at the front of the building. The Bristol County district attorney’s office said in a statement that the fire’s cause “does not appear to be suspicious at this time.” Its origin remains under investigation, authorities said.

Lorraine Ferrara, one of about 70 residents at the facility, awoke to a neighbor pounding on her door. She tried to make her way through the smoke in the hallway but retreated to her room as the sprinkler system shot hot water onto her back.

As her room filed with smoke, Ferrara opened her window and yelled. A firefighter broke the window and carried her down the ladder, she said.

“I really thought I was going to die,” she said. “I thought there was no way out.”

That fear mixed with anger as she watched two employees run from the building.

“They left us alone and ran out into the parking lot,” she said. “I was hanging out the window — ‘Help! Help!’ and they just kept running.”

The dead ranged in age from 61 to 86, authorities said. The Bristol County district attorney’s office identified seven of the deceased as Rui Albernaz, 64; Ronald Codega, 61; Margaret Duddy, 69; Robert King, 78; Kim Mackin, 71; Richard Rochon, 78; and Eleanor Willett, 86. The office said a 70-year-old woman and 77-year-old man were still pending notification of family.

Gabriel House opened in 1999 and has 100 units, according to Massachusetts Executive Office of Aging and Independence. Its website promotes studio apartments “for those seniors who cannot afford the high end of assisted living” as well as group adult foster care within walking distance of shopping, restaurants and churches.

“If an emergency occurs, no matter the time, there will be someone ready to help,” the website states.

Dennis Etzkorn, the facility’s owner, declined to comment Monday, but officials said he was cooperating with what Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon called “a very extensive investigation.”

District Attorney Tom Quinn called the fire a “terrible tragedy” in a statement that also commended first responders “bringing many of the residents to safety while being confronted with very difficult circumstances.”

About 50 firefighters responded to the scene, including 30 who were off-duty. Police also helped break down doors and carried about a dozen residents to safety. Five injured firefighters were released from the hospital Monday.

“You couldn’t have had enough people here to save everybody that needed help last night,” Bacon said.

But officials with the firefighters union said the closing of fire companies and cutbacks on staff have been a problem for decades.

If staffing had been at the nationally recommended level, eight more firefighters would have been at the scene Sunday night, said Edward Kelly, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters union.

“There’s no doubt that would’ve made a difference in the amount of people that we lost to this terrible fire last night,” Kelly said. “Lives would’ve been saved if the Fall River Fire Department was adequately staffed.”

Capt. Frank O’Reagan said there was no breathing equipment available when he arrived, so he started going door to door on the third floor without an air tank.

“First room, empty. Second door I kicked in, body. Next room, empty. Next room, body,” he said. “I searched as much as a could but after a while you just can’t take that much smoke.”

O’Reagan’s brother and fellow firefighter Michael O’Reagan said he was shocked that 40 minutes after firefighters arrived, a large part of the building had not been searched.

With about 94,000 residents, Fall River is the state’s 10th-largest city and one of its poorest. The blue-collar community in southern Massachusetts was once a global center for textile manufacturing, but it suffered population loss and economic hardship as the industry declined.