The firefighters greeted each other with handshakes, back slaps, and inside jokes in a firehouse kitchen. But quickly, they shifted to mournful, head-shaking recollections of what each of them had experienced in the worst fire they had ever fought.

The firefighters who rushed in to a burning Massachusetts assisted living facility in Fall River and rescued dozens of elderly residents describe that tragic night as pure chaos.

Visibility was near zero as smoke rapidly filled Gabriel House, an assisted living facility with 69 residents. People were screaming for help; some stayed in their rooms and called loved ones, some invoked the Almighty.