Jacksonville Emergency Safety Guide

Jacksonville sends emergency warnings through AlertJax, a free Duval County alert service, and through the JaxReady website and JaxReady app run by the city's Emergency Preparedness Division.

Duval County uses AlertJax, which runs on the Everbridge Automated Notification System, to warn residents of a potential or pending emergency (JaxReady, AlertJax). A Jacksonville resident creates an account, adds contact details and one or more locations, and then receives messages about severe weather, flooding, emergencies and events. The free Everbridge app for iOS and Android carries the same Duval County alerts.

Behind those messages sits the Emergency Preparedness Division of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, which plans for hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding and terrorism and also serves as the Duval County Emergency Management agency overseeing the Emergency Operations Center (JFRD, Emergency Preparedness Division). JaxReady pages carry a banner showing whether the Jacksonville Emergency Operations Center is activated and which lettered zones, if any, are being asked to evacuate.

Forecasts for Jacksonville come from the National Weather Service forecast office at 13701 Fang Dr., Jacksonville, FL 32218, phone (904) 741-4370 (NWS Jacksonville). That office posts current hazards, a daily briefing and a storm report form, and it lists Skywarn storm spotter class schedules for 2026-27 for Jacksonville-area residents who want to train as volunteer weather spotters.

Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the City of Jacksonville JaxReady website.

Duval County sorts Jacksonville into six lettered evacuation zones, A through F, and JaxReady has a lookup that finds the zone by street address.

Zone A holds the most vulnerable parts of Duval County and is evacuated first, including manufactured and mobile homes; as a storm strengthens, orders move outward through Zones B, C, D and E (JaxReady, Evacuation Zones). Zone F works differently, because it marks Jacksonville areas likely to flood from rainfall or other hazards rather than from storm surge. The county says its rivers meet the Atlantic Ocean in a way that makes Duval County zones more complex than most, and that most of its low-lying land lies along the coast and the rivers.

Once an order is given, Jacksonville Beaches residents head west on J. Turner Butler Boulevard, Beach Boulevard or Atlantic Boulevard, then through downtown to I-10 West until they reach a shelter, a safe part of the county or the county line (JaxReady, Evacuation Routes). Visitors and non-residents coming up from the south are sent along I-95 North to I-295 North and back onto I-95 North out of Duval County. Duval County Emergency Management answers route and zone questions at (904) 255-3110.

Jacksonville residents who cannot leave the area on their own can ride JTA free to open public shelters during an evacuation order, either on a regular route bus marked Evacuation Shuttle before the announced cut-off time or from four pick-up schools (JaxReady, JTA Evacuation Information): Fletcher High School at 700 Seagate Avenue in Neptune Beach, Mayport Middle School at 2600 Mayport Road in Atlantic Beach, Baldwin Middle-High School at 291 Mill Street in West Baldwin, and Jacksonville Beach Elementary at 315 South Tenth Street in Jacksonville Beach.

The hurricane evacuation zones in Jacksonville guide walks through each lettered zone and how orders are issued, street by street.

Jacksonville shelters are opened storm by storm, and local emergency management officials announce which ones are open through the media, social media and the JaxReady app.

General population shelters in Duval County are managed by the American Red Cross and are open to everyone on a first-come basis; smoking, firearms, weapons and alcohol are not allowed in any Jacksonville shelter (JaxReady, Shelter Information). The city describes a shelter as a place of safety for people whose homes are unsafe, with little privacy and often crowded conditions, and suggests securing the home and eating before leaving if time permits.

Pet-friendly shelters in Jacksonville accept dogs, cats, rodents such as hamsters and gerbils, birds and rabbits, but no reptiles (JaxReady, Pet Friendly Shelter Information). Each pet needs proof of vaccination and registration, must be crated or caged, and stays in the owner's care, sometimes in a separate room. Service animals are allowed at every shelter location in Duval County, and they are the only animals allowed on public transportation, so Jacksonville pet owners plan their own ride. Questions go to 630-CITY (2489).

The Duval County Health Department runs Special Medical Needs Shelters, and only people who pre-register with the City of Jacksonville can use them (JaxReady, Special Medical Needs Registration). The registry is meant for Jacksonville residents who depend on electricity for life-supporting equipment or on oxygen, or who have physical, medical, cognitive or sensory disabilities that may need basic help from medical professionals. Registration is online, by mailed form, or by phone at (904) 255-3172, a health care professional reviews each form, and every client must re-register each year. Registered clients who need it get transportation from JTA. The JaxReady evacuation routes page gives a second official number, Duval County Emergency Management at (904) 255-3110, for help with special needs registration (JaxReady, Evacuation Routes), so the city lists both (904) 255-3172 and (904) 255-3110 for the registry.

A Jacksonville property's flood zone is found on the Duval County GIS page under Duval Property, and it is a different designation from the property's hurricane evacuation zone.

The city's flood page sends Jacksonville owners to the Duval County GIS Duval Property search and lists Emergency Preparedness at 904-255-3110 for help determining a flood zone (JaxReady, Flood Information). The same page explains that FEMA's Flood Mitigation Assistance grants, offered through the State of Florida, can help eligible Duval County owners with elevation, acquisition or floodproofing, and that a community applying must have an approved hazard mitigation plan such as the Duval County Local Mitigation Strategy. The official maps behind every Jacksonville flood zone sit in FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, the online home of National Flood Insurance Program maps (FEMA, Flood Maps).

Sinkhole questions about a Jacksonville lot are handled at the state level. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection does not inspect possible sinkholes; the Florida Geological Survey runs a Sinkhole Helpline at 850-245-2118, insurance claims go to the Department of Financial Services, and an assessment of a Jacksonville home comes from a certified home inspector or foundation specialist (Florida DEP, Sinkholes). Where a hole in Duval County poses a risk of physical harm, the state tells callers to call their local law enforcement agency.

The flood risk zones in Jacksonville guide explains the coastal, river and inland flood areas, and the sinkhole risk areas in Jacksonville guide covers the county's karst ground and how subsidence is reported.

In Jacksonville an emergency is reported by calling or texting 911, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office non-emergency line is 904-630-0500, and JFRD's non-emergency office line is 904-255-3280 on weekdays.

Duval County 911 accepts texts as well as calls: the sender types 911 in the recipient field, gives the location and the problem first, and expects a slower exchange than a voice call (JaxReady, Contacting 911). Duval County dispatch centers use RapidSOS for health profiles and better location data, every Florida 911 answering point has TDD capability for hearing and speech impaired callers, and all Duval County answering points offer translators for callers who do not speak English.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has its headquarters at 532 Riverside Avenue, Jacksonville, FL 32202, and lists 904-630-0500 for non-emergency calls and 904-630-7600 for general information (JSO, Contact Us). TTY service is available on 911.

For non-emergency questions, the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department answers at 904-255-3280 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday and at 904-630-0522 after hours, and its headquarters is at 515 N. Julia St., Jacksonville, FL 32202 (JFRD, Contact Us). JFRD says it serves 1 million residents across 840 square miles with about 1,900 personnel in five divisions: Rescue, Operations, Fire Prevention, Emergency Preparedness and Training (JFRD Fast Facts).

Through the Mayor's Home Fire Safety Program, JFRD will provide and install a free battery-powered smoke alarm for a qualifying Jacksonville resident in a single-family or two-family home, and will replace batteries in existing alarms at no charge; requests go to 904-630-CITY (2489), and JFRD names businesses, contractors and rental properties as examples of exclusions (JFRD, Mayor's Home Fire Safety Program).

Jacksonville is still inside hurricane season in mid-October, since the Atlantic season runs June 1 to November 30 and the city puts its peak between mid-August and late October.

The city lists tropical storms and hurricanes among the most dangerous risks to Duval County and reminds residents that storms can form at any time of year (JaxReady, Hurricanes and Tropical Storms).

Two practical points are easy to miss in Jacksonville. The statewide zone lookup page from the Florida Division of Emergency Management says Zone A typically evacuates first and Zone E last, and elsewhere describes zones A to F with Zone F most likely to evacuate last (Florida Division of Emergency Management zone lookup), while Duval County defines its Zone F as areas likely to flood from rainfall, so a Jacksonville address is best checked on JaxReady itself. And the JaxReady partner phone list still gives JFRD as 904-630-0527 (JaxReady, Partner Links and Phone Numbers), while JFRD's own contact page gives 904-255-3280 and 904-630-0522; the department's page is the more direct line. The same partner list gives the American Red Cross of Northeast Florida at 904-358-8091 and lists JEA, the Jacksonville utility, at 904-665-6000.

Special Medical Needs clients in Jacksonville are notified at the start of each calendar year to re-register, because each client must re-register every year to remain in the system; a Jacksonville registrant who skipped the renewal is worth a call to (904) 255-3172 before the next storm.

Three Jacksonville safety guides go deeper than this hub, and the table matches common Duval County safety questions to the key fact and the place to read more.

The hurricane evacuation zones in Jacksonville guide, the flood risk zones in Jacksonville guide and the sinkhole risk areas in Jacksonville guide each take one hazard further, while this hub keeps the Duval County alert, shelter and phone details in one place.