Indian River County Safety Guide: Hurricanes, Shelters, Flood Zones and 911

Indian River County Emergency Management, at the Emergency Operations Center at 4225 43rd Ave in Vero Beach, (772) 226-3900, develops, coordinates and promotes comprehensive emergency plans for all disaster events in the county (Indian River County Emergency Management).

The division, at the Emergency Operations Center on 43rd Avenue in Vero Beach, is responsible for county compliance with Florida Statute 252 and calls adequate public preparedness, warning, education and training its highest priority. Its page is the hub for the Alert Indian River notification system, the interactive evacuation zone viewer, the special needs shelter program, an active public emergency shelters map, a public storm damage reporting tool and the vegetative storm debris right of entry form (Emergency Management page). The county posts its emergency ordinances, declarations and orders on one page. The newest listed is Emergency Order 2026-001, a burn ban; below it are Hurricane Milton local state of emergency orders from October 8, 2024 through EO 2024-006 of November 5, 2024, and EO 2024-001 of May 7, 2024, a mandatory burn ban tied to the danger of wildfires (Emergency Ordinances, Declarations and Orders). The Indian River County emergency management guide covers the plans, the state of emergency process and the alert sign up.

Indian River County Emergency Management publishes hurricane evacuation zones and routes on gisportal.ircgov.com, with layers for Zones A thru C, Zones D and E, Mobile Home Parks, Evacuation Zone A, and evacuation routes (IRC evacuation zones).

The route layer carries 24 distinct road labels, among them County Road 512, Sebastian Blvd, U S Highway 1, State Road 510, Wabasso Bridge Rd, the Merrill Barber Bridge, E Causeway Blvd, Beachland Blvd and Highway A1A (IRC evacuation routes). Florida's Division of Emergency Management says it is important every year for residents to know whether they live in an evacuation zone, a low lying flood prone area, a mobile home or an unsafe structure, and notes that Zone A is typically the most likely to evacuate first and Zone E last (Florida Division of Emergency Management). The county Emergency Management page links an Interactive Evacuation Zone Viewer for that check (Emergency Management page). The hurricane evacuation zones guide explains each zone and counts the mobile home parks by ZIP code.

The county shelter layer lists 15 school sites in Sebastian, Fellsmere and Vero Beach with 15,304 listed spaces, 14 of them assigned to one of three opening waves (IRC public shelters layer).

Wave 2 lists Vero Beach Elementary, Annex B (formerly Osceola Magnet) and Gifford Middle in Vero Beach, and wave 3 adds Sebastian River High School, Sebastian Elementary and Pelican Island Elementary in Sebastian, plus Indian River Academy and Glendale Elementary in Vero Beach (IRC public shelters layer). The county Emergency Management page links an Active Public Emergency Shelters Map (Emergency Management page).

Two county sources disagree on details that matter. The pet evacuation page names Liberty Magnet School at 6850 81st Street the pet friendly shelter and asks owners to bring a crate and show proof of a current rabies vaccination and a county license for the pet, if applicable (Pet Evacuation Shelter), while the shelter layer lists Vero Beach Middle as the pet friendly site and Liberty as the secondary one. The special needs page says preregistration is required, for the special needs shelter and for transportation to a general or pet friendly shelter, and that as of January 2025 the form is online through the Florida Department of Health, with paper copies by request at 772-226-3900 (Special Needs Shelter); the layer record for Treasure Coast Elementary in Sebastian says preregistration is suggested, but not required (IRC public shelters layer). Because the special needs page states the requirement, registering ahead is the safer course. The hurricane shelters guide lists all 15 sites by wave.

In Indian River County, where flooding sources include the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian River Lagoon and its tributaries, county staff at (772) 226-1237 help check a property's flood zone against FEMA maps effective January 26, 2023 (county flood page).

That line belongs to the county Planning Division, which offers map location services to all members of the public by phone or by appointment, and the county says flooding comes from heavy rainfall over short periods and from tidal surges and heavy rains that accompany coastal storms, tropical storms and hurricanes (county flood page). A public flood risk website run with Forerunner shows the risk and elevation certificates for individual parcels, and the floodplain coordinator answers at 772-226-1590. Elevation certificates for previously developed Indian River County properties go back to 1997 at the Building Division or Environmental Planning, the Planning Division keeps FIRMs for the unincorporated county back to 1978, and the county's self-service Flood Zone Map covers the current FIRMs for unincorporated Indian River County. The county is also asking for public comment on a draft Repetitive Loss Area Analysis report covering areas with repeated flood damage to buildings (county flood page). The flood page is one of the related links of Emergency Management, at 4225 43rd Avenue in Vero Beach (Emergency Management page).

The Indian River County Sheriff's Office 911 Communications Center dispatches Fire and EMS calls for the entire county (Indian River County Sheriff).

The Sheriff's center is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, handles approximately 283,000 calls for service a year, and dispatches law enforcement calls for the unincorporated county, the Town of Indian River Shores and the City of Fellsmere (Sheriff dispatch). Since April 1, 2022 the public safety answering points in the county can accept a text to 911 of up to 140 characters from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon customers, to be used only when placing a call is not possible or speaking out loud would put the caller in danger (Indian River County 911 Administration).

The county fire station layer lists 15 stations: Stations 7, 8 and 9 carry Sebastian addresses at 9700 26th Pl, 1115 Barber St and 13550 Roseland Rd, Station 10 is at 62 N Broadway St in Fellsmere, Station 11 at 2555 93rd St in Wabasso, and a portable Station 15 sits at 9470 County Road 512 (IRC fire stations layer). A user fee is charged to patients treated or transported by EMS; the Fire Rescue FAQ lists $681.98 for a BLS emergency transport, $809.87 for an ALS level 1 emergency transport and $13.73 per statute mile (Fire Rescue FAQ). The 911 and text to 911 guide and the fire rescue guide go further.

For anything that is not an emergency, Indian River County residents call Emergency Management at (772) 226-3900 or the Sheriff's Office at (772) 569-6700, and 911 stays for emergencies (Emergency Management; Sheriff Office).

The Sheriff's Office lobby at 4055 41st Avenue in Vero Beach opens 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday (Sheriff Office). Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Indian River County website.

Five Indian River County safety guides for Sebastian, Vero Beach and Fellsmere residents go deeper: emergency management, hurricane evacuation zones, hurricane shelters, 911 and text to 911, and fire rescue.

The Sebastian town guide and the Vero Beach town guide cover city services inside those limits, while this Indian River County section covers the countywide agencies.