Three emergency calls describe the incident on Sunday in La Trattoria

At least three 911 calls alerted authorities to the ceiling collapse at a popular restaurant on Naples’ upscale 5th Avenue South, providing dispatchers with about four minutes of details.

La Trattoria, 878 5th Ave. S., sustained major damage Sunday evening, injuring nine people. Seven of the injured were taken to NCH, where they were treated and released.

Collier County police, fire and emergency medical services arrived at around 6:45 p.m.

According to the authorities, this was apparently an isolated case.

Corey Adamski, assistant chief of the Naples Fire Department, said 100 people, including guests and staff, were in the building when the ceiling collapsed.

The deputy chief said initial reports suggested more than 20 people were injured.

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Adamski said it took authorities several minutes to clear the scene of guests, employees and passersby. He said the exact time was not included in his notes.

“Situations like this are not everyday, but they do happen,” Adamski said.

Adamski said the fallen debris was from the interior and did not appear to be structural. He added that the building had been turned over to the owner, who would now “figure out the how and why.”

According to the Naples Fire Department, based on information available Sunday evening, the battalion commander requested a Level 1 mass casualty incident, which is an emergency beyond the response capabilities of a typical first responder team.

Adamski explained that this led to the deployment of ten additional personnel on Sunday evening, distributed across five ambulances.

‘Yes I think so’

The first of three recorded emergency calls related to the partial collapse came from a woman whose voice appeared to shake as she attempted to report the incident.

The call recorded noises coming from the restaurant, apparently from patrons attempting to render assistance, before the dispatcher transferred the call to Naples Police.

The conversation with the switchboard lasted just over a minute before the caller was transferred.

“Is there a medical emergency?” asked the dispatcher, to which the passerby replied, “Yes, I think so.”

Woman hit in the head, two children injured

A second call from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said a woman was struck in the head when the ceiling partially collapsed. The caller said two children were also injured.

According to the passerby, the conversation lasted about two minutes until the police arrived.

“The ceiling kept falling”

A third caller, during his first telephone contact with the dispatch center, asked if he could hear me because of the commotion in the background.

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