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.

A fire broke out at about 9:30 p.m. on Sunday a Fall River assisted living residence, which drew nearly 50 firefighters to the scene and left a vulnerable population calling for help from their windows.

River firefighters arrived at the scene Sunday to find some of the trapped residents screaming for help out of the windows.