How Emergency Management Is Organized in Florida

The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) is responsible for maintaining a comprehensive statewide program of emergency management (section 252.35, Florida Statutes).

The same section makes the division the coordinator between the Federal Government, other state agencies, county and municipal governments, school boards and private agencies that have a role in emergency management (section 252.35(1)). It also directs the division to help counties prepare their own plans, including a template for comprehensive emergency management plans and guidance on mutual aid agreements, and to review those county plans periodically for consistency with the state plan (section 252.35(2)).

FDEM's headquarters is listed at 2489 Shumard Oak Blvd, Tallahassee, FL 32311, phone 850-815-4000, with Florida Relay at 711 (FDEM).

The state comprehensive emergency management plan is written by FDEM, adopted as a rule under chapter 120 and must be integrated with federal emergency plans (section 252.35(2)(a)).

The statute names its required parts. The evacuation component must contain guidelines for lifting tolls on state highways, coordinate evacuees crossing county lines, direct people caught on evacuation routes to safe shelter and plan for reasonably priced fuel along evacuation routes (section 252.35). The shelter component must plan for adequate public shelter space in each county, refuge-of-last-resort programs, shelter staffing and sheltering people with special needs (section 252.35). A postdisaster response and recovery component sets the chain of command, statewide mutual aid procedures, rapid impact assessment teams and an urban search and rescue program (section 252.35).

The current edition posted by FDEM is the 2026 State of Florida CEMP, alongside ESF annexes still labeled 2024 CEMP Annexes and support plans such as the Statewide Emergency Shelter Plan, the Statewide Mutual Aid Agreement and the Regional Evacuation Guidelines (FDEM CEMP page). County plans and programs must meet the local CEMP criteria in rule 27P-6.0023, Florida Administrative Code, and FDEM posts a 2026 County CEMP Guidance Fact Sheet for them (FDEM).

The State Emergency Response Team (SERT) is organized into 20 Emergency Support Functions, each led by a designated Primary Agency and managed by an ESF Lead who coordinates the work inside the State Emergency Operations Center (FDEM).

ESFs are made up of response partners from state agencies, federal agencies, non-governmental organizations and private sector entities, supported by agency Emergency Coordinating Officers (FDEM SERT page).

For ESF 1, the SERT page lists the pre-impact task as ensuring all evacuation routes are accessible, and during activation keeping roads, bridges and ports operating and moving debris to debris management sites (FDEM).

Every Florida county must establish and maintain an emergency management agency with jurisdiction over the entire county and a county plan consistent with the state plan, unless it is part of an interjurisdictional agreement the Governor recognizes (section 252.38(1)(a), Florida Statutes).

Each county agency has a director, and the statute sets minimum qualifications: fifty hours of training in public administration or emergency management (a bachelor's degree may substitute), four years of verifiable emergency management experience including direct supervisory responsibility for at least 1 emergency or disaster, and 150 hours of FEMA-approved training that includes the ICS-100 through ICS-400, IS-700 and IS-800 courses (section 252.38(1)(b)).

Counties are also the channel for cities. Counties serve as liaison for and coordinator of municipalities' requests for state and federal assistance after a disaster (section 252.38). Municipalities are authorized and encouraged to create their own emergency management programs, which must coordinate with the county agency; a city without a program is served by its county (section 252.38(2)).

Local declarations are time-limited. A state of local emergency lasts 7 days and may be extended in 7-day increments, while an emergency order expires 7 days after issuance and can be extended by majority vote of the governing body for a total of not more than 42 days; the Governor may invalidate a local emergency order at any time on finding that it unnecessarily restricts individual rights or liberties (section 252.38). FDEM keeps a County Emergency Management page that links each county's emergency management website, from Alachua to Washington, plus a downloadable county emergency manager map (FDEM county directory).

Counties and other political subdivisions report listed incidents to the State Watch Office, which operates 24/7, 365 days a year as a daily extension of the State Emergency Operations Center (FDEM State Watch Office).

Section 252.351, Florida Statutes, requires FDEM to keep a list of reportable incidents and to update and distribute it to political subdivisions by December 1 of each year (FDEM). The categories run from wildland fires and sinkholes to dam failure, boil water advisories, power outages, ransomware against critical infrastructure and Kennedy Space Center activity (FDEM). The watch office answers at 1-800-320-0519 and 850-815-4001 (FDEM).

A dating gap on the official page: the reportable incidents list itself shows Last update: May 2024, while the formal update notices listed below it run through 2025 amendments (FDEM). Anyone checking whether an incident type is reportable should read the latest amendment notice as well as the list (FDEM).

The current test is Hurricane Isaias: OpenFEMA records emergency declaration EM-3655-FL, dated October 9, 2026, with Public Assistance declared and Individual Assistance not declared for the 27 Florida county rows it lists (OpenFEMA).

The 27 county rows in that OpenFEMA record include Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Leon, Taylor, Dixie, Levy and Citrus (OpenFEMA). An October 16, 2026 announcement on the FDEM homepage says Governor Ron DeSantis announced that FDEM had submitted a request for a Major Disaster Declaration following Hurricane Isaias, seeking Public Assistance for 15 counties and Individual Assistance for eligible residents in 8 designated counties (FDEM). That request is the state's own announcement; OpenFEMA showed no major disaster (DR) number for Isaias when re-queried on October 18, 2026 (OpenFEMA).

The statute sets the chain for help after a disaster: counties serve as liaison for city requests for state and federal assistance, and every county is served by the division (section 252.38).

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against Chapter 252 sections 252.35 and 252.38, five FDEM pages and the OpenFEMA record for EM-3655-FL.