Naples fire chief asks governor to act now and issue ‘shelter in place’ order

The Naples fire chief wrote an email to the governor Monday morning voicing his concerns for public safety, saying it keeps him up at night and that the rules need to get stricter in order to save lives.

Chief Pete DiMaria says first responders have worked hard to enforce the tighter restrictions for social distancing, but some people are just not listening.

He says he wants a “Stay at Home” policy or a “Shelter in Place” order — similar to what we are seeing in states like California and New York.

The Naples chief says his call to action would not mean the shutdown of essential services, so people could still get to the grocery stores and pharmacies, but he says our activity around town needs to be limited quickly.

“People are still going to the beaches even though we closed the beaches. People are still congregating on Keewaydin Island … still long lines of people not practicing social distancing, and I got to say all your emergency managers are concerned,” DiMaria said.

Another reason for writing the governor — the fire chief personally knows someone with COVID-19. He says after seeing the virus hit so close to home, he’s concerned that failure to act could be our ultimate failure.