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Massachusetts fire code to require annual checks for recalled sprinkler heads
State regulators approved fire-code changes requiring inspectors to look for recalled sprinkler heads and ensure faulty equipment is replaced. The action follows the 2025 Gabriel House fire in Fall River, where the facility’s suppression system failed to activate and recalled sprinkler heads were later found.
Massachusetts fire inspectors will have to check for recalled sprinkler heads and other faulty fire-suppression equipment under changes approved Thursday by the state Board of Fire Prevention Regulations.
The requirements will be included in the 2027 edition of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Fire Safety Code. When inspectors find recalled equipment, they must notify the property owner and ensure the fire-suppression system is brought into compliance.
The changes follow the July 13, 2025, fire at Gabriel House, an assisted living facility in Fall River. The blaze killed residents and became the state’s deadliest fire in more than 40 years. The facility’s sprinkler system did not activate, and investigators later found its sprinkler heads had been recalled more than two decades earlier.
About 70 residents with varying mobility lived at Gabriel House when the fire broke out. More than 30 residents and five firefighters were taken to hospitals for treatment. Fall River firefighters subsequently found recalled sprinklers during inspections at at least four other properties, adding urgency to calls for statewide code changes.
State Fire Marshal Jon Devine said the residents and their families remained in officials’ thoughts. He said the new requirements were intended to help prevent other families from experiencing similar loss.
Gov. Maura Healey also welcomed the changes, saying the state had a responsibility to strengthen safety and protect residents.
The code revision includes other provisions: restrictions on welding, grinding and similar hot work when winds exceed 15 mph; renewal of hot-work safety training every three years; streamlined permitting and certification rules; and updates to bring state standards closer to national codes while retaining Massachusetts-specific protections.