Assisted living centers are rare in Mass, but many families still don’t know what they offer or how they differ from other elder care facilities.

Gov. Maura Healey on Friday announced a series of new measures aimed at improving safety in assisted living facilities in the wake of a fire at Gabriel House in Fall River that killed at least nine people on Sunday.

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.

The investigation into the fire’s cause is ongoing but “does not appear to be suspicious,” according to the Bristol County district attorney's office.

River Fire Department confirmed that there are multiple injuries and fatalities. A family reunification centre has now been set up at the chapel at the St. Anne’s Hospital.