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Barclay Friends nursing home fire: What we know and don't know

Officials say they have not yet accounted for all the residents of the Barclay Friends Senior Living complex.

A five-alarm fire ravaged a large nursing home complex, Barclay Friends Senior Living, in West Chester late Thursday night into Friday morning, forcing the evacuation of scores of residents into 40-degree temperatures.
A five-alarm fire ravaged a large nursing home complex, Barclay Friends Senior Living, in West Chester late Thursday night into Friday morning, forcing the evacuation of scores of residents into 40-degree temperatures.Read moreDavid Swanson / Staff Photographer

A raging five-alarm fire has ripped through  the Barclay Friends Senior Living facility in West Chester, Pa., injuring 27 people and displacing scores of elderly and frail residents a week before Thanksgiving. Here's what we know and don't know.

• Officials say they have not accounted for all residents of the facility following the fire. They did not say how many were not accounted for. Displaced residents were being placed in other facilities or with their families.

• One man, Ken McGill, of West Chester, said his in-laws were missing and that facility administrators have not yet been able to locate them at any hospital or other facility taking in displaced Barclay Friends residents. He declined to identify them.

• Officials say 27 people were taken to hospitals, 10 of whom were released after treatment.

• There were 160 residents and staff in the complex when the fire broke out in the assisted care section, officials said.

• The cause of the fire is not yet known and will be the subject of an investigation, including the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The blaze raged for more than 2 ½ hours before being declared under control at 1:22 a.m. Friday. Investigators are not expected to get into the ruins until Saturday.

•  Neighborhood residents joined facility staff and first responders in evacuating residents and caring for them on a cold night until they could be transported to temporary shelters, including West Chester University, where they stayed until they could be placed in other facilities or with their families.

• Barclay Friends reported revenues of $14 million in its 2015 non-profit tax returns show. Just over half of its residents are listed as private pay. Thirty four percent are covered  by Medicaid and 14 percent by Medicare, tax records show.