Fire breaks out at Naples condo tower

Some units at Vistas in Naples had to be evacuated on Wednesday after a fire broke out.

Units were called to the condos at 4651 Gulf Shore Blvd N. No injuries were reported.

Firefighters from Naples Fire Rescue and North Collier Fire arrived to find smoke in the area. Collier County EMS was also at the scene.

The fire began in the electrical room, according to Karen Nagel, the public information officer for the Naples Fire Department.

Betsy Caras, a resident at the Vistas spoke with WINK News about what happened.

“It was scary, but, you know what, we always have false alarms, so we thought it was a false alarm, but it wasn’t. We come down, we saw the flames and smoke,” Caras said.

Dorian Myers, an employee for PuroClean, was at the Vistas for a different job, but saw the events unfold.

“The fire trucks begin to pull up, you know, I helped them hook up a fire hydrant and locate it,” Myers said.

Myers explained that instinct took over; back home, he’s a firefighter.

“With stuff like that, you aren’t sure how fast it’s going to spread, which way it’s going to spread, the direction it’s going to go, so the first thing is to evacuate the building and make sure that everybody is safe, first and foremost,” Myers said.

There were around 20 residents inside when the fire started. The Red Cross is helping to find them housing, but many of the residents are now staying with friends or family.