Fire department shuts down storage facility in Collier County

The Greater Naples Fire Department has shut down a public storage facility located off Davis Boulevard.

People who store their belongings there say they can’t get inside to get their stuff.

Greater Naples Fire shut down the Public Storage on Davis Boulvard because they don’t have fire protection.

Apparently, it’s been going on for several months, and customers can’t get to their stuff because it’s too risky to let them in.

“It’s locked, and no one can go in, and I see the guard who said you can’t get in,” said Cesar Rodriguez, a local contractor. “I don’t know, he’s not telling me anything else, no reason. I don’t know what happened.”

Chief Nolan Sapp with Greater Naples Fire said the facility has a non-functional fire protection system, meaning the building was shut down for safety reasons.

“They were required to have the fire watch. They stopped documenting as they were required to do in accordance with that agreement, and because they had failed to complete the proper documentation to demonstrate that they had conducted the fire watch. We had no choice but to shut that down,” Sapp said.

He said it’s not an uncommon thing to be required in case the sprinkler or fire alarm system fails, but people like Cesar Rodriguez can’t wait any longer.

“I just want to see when it’s gonna open because I needed and keep working, need to keep it running, so I need getting my tools out,” Rodriguez said.

He’s a local contractor and said he’s lost a couple of jobs due to not being able to access his tools and equipment.

“The thing is, I need my tools. Without my tools, I cannot do anything. I have to get a couple of gallons of paint that I have there, and it’s not regular paint. I can’t buy it at Home Depot, Lowe’s. It’s special paint,” Rodriguez said.

Chief Sapp said if the company gets things in check, and soon, they’ll be able to open again.

“It’s on the company. Once they get the proper paperwork filled out, submitted to Collier County government, and the permit is issued, then we’ll be able to conduct the inspection, make sure that everything is completed, and we can get them open right back up,” Sapp said

The facility is closed, so we weren’t able to talk to anyone there, but we reached out by phone and are waiting to hear back.