Fire Rescue — Indian River County, Florida

Indian River County Fire Rescue answers fire and ambulance calls everywhere in the county except the Town of Indian River Shores, which lies outside the Emergency Services District that pays for it.

The district is a dependent special taxing district set up by the Board of County Commissioners, and its boundaries take in all of Indian River County except for property within the Town of Indian River Shores (Indian River County Code, Chapter 208). Its stated purpose is fire, rescue, emergency medical and other emergency services, and the commissioners sit as its governing board. That single district is why county units answer calls in Fellsmere, Sebastian, Vero Beach and the unincorporated county alike.

The countywide system replaced three older Indian River County fire districts. Chapter 208 abolished the North, West and South Indian River County Fire Districts, created in 1980 by Ordinances 80-5, 80-25 and 80-32, and moved their assets, liabilities and employees into the new district under Ordinance 92-26 of July 14, 1992 (Chapter 208). The code also leaves a door open: any city in the district, such as Sebastian, Fellsmere or Vero Beach, that wants to leave must adopt an ordinance by April 1st of a year, effective October 1st of the following year, about 18 months later.

Day to day, the Fire Rescue Division works from 4225 43rd Ave in Vero Beach, phone (772) 226-3900 (Indian River County Fire Rescue). The division lists firefighting and special operations that include marine firefighting, dive rescue, airport firefighting and rescue, high angle rescue, hazardous material response, confined space, trench and structural collapse rescue, alongside emergency medical services that assess, stabilize and transport patients to the appropriate hospital. David Johnson is listed as Director of Emergency Services and Fire Chief as of October 12, 2026.

The county station layer lists 15 entries: nine with Vero Beach addresses, two in Sebastian, one in Fellsmere, one in Wabasso, Station 7 on 26th Place and a portable station on County Road 512.

The list below comes from the county's own fire station map data (IRC Fire Stations layer), fetched October 12, 2026. Station 2 at Bridge Plaza Drive in Vero Beach also carries the Marine 21 designation, and Station 15 on County Road 512 is labeled portable. Stations 8 and 9 carry Sebastian addresses. The layer files Station 7 at 9700 26th Pl under Sebastian, but the county's annual financial report places the rebuilt Station 7 in the developing western part of the county near I-95 (ACFR FY2025, page vi). Station 10 sits on North Broadway Street in Fellsmere, and Station 11 serves Wabasso from 93rd Street.

More stations are on the way. The county's fiscal 2025 annual financial report lists Stations 7, 15 and 16 in the capital plan at a combined $21.3 million, paid for with impact fees, Emergency Services District revenues and the Local Option Sales Tax (Indian River County ACFR FY2025, page vi). The report describes Station 7 as a replacement and relocation of a demolished substandard building, placed to serve the developing western part of the county and I-95, and says Stations 15 and 16 will add coverage for the north county area after rapid population growth.

Fire Rescue is paid for by the Emergency Services District property tax, 2.3531 mills in each year from 2021 through 2025, plus ambulance user fees charged to patients who are treated or transported.

Section 208.05 lets the district levy an annual property tax of up to three and one-half mills (Chapter 208), and the Board of County Commissioners sets the district's millage rate (ACFR FY2025, reporting entity note). The county's ten-year rate schedule shows the district at 2.2551 mills in 2016, 2.3655 in 2018 through 2020, and 2.3531 from 2021 through 2025 (ACFR Schedule 7, 2016 to 2019; ACFR Schedule 7, 2020 to 2025). The schedule groups it with the other countywide rates.

Ambulance trips carry a separate charge. The county's FAQ says everyone pays for the service being available while patients treated and transported pay for using it, so the tax needed to support ambulances can be held down (Indian River County Fire Rescue FAQ). The published rates follow the federal transport codes:

Billing runs through a contractor. EMS/MC of Lewisville, North Carolina, handles Indian River County Fire Rescue invoices at 866-832-2193, and the county's own EMS administration answers billing questions at 772-226-3949 (county FAQ).

Every fire and EMS call in Indian River County, from Fellsmere to Vero Beach, is dispatched by the Sheriff's Office 911 Communications Center, including Sebastian and Vero Beach, where the Sheriff does not dispatch police calls.

The Sheriff's Office describes its center as the first point of contact for emergency services in the county, staffed 24 hours a day by state certified telecommunicators trained in Emergency Medical Dispatch and accredited through CALEA (Indian River County Sheriff). It handles about 283,000 calls for service a year. For police work it dispatches the unincorporated county, the Town of Indian River Shores and the City of Fellsmere, but for fire and EMS it dispatches the entire county, so a medical call in Sebastian or Vero Beach still goes out from the Sheriff's center to county Fire Rescue units.

Where the ambulance goes next is also set countywide. A patient who is awake, alert and oriented may choose a hospital within Indian River County, but Fire Rescue command staff can deny transports beyond the closest hospital when call volume in an area is high, and patients meeting state trauma alert criteria go to the nearest state approved trauma facility (county FAQ). The FAQ uses County Road 510 to decide which hospital is closest by ground, both inside the county and for the trauma centers in Brevard and St. Lucie counties.

Crews work a 24 hours on, 48 hours off schedule, according to the same FAQ. The county also hands out a Vial of Life, a bottle holding a patient history form kept in the refrigerator for crews to find, through Indian River County Fire Rescue at (772) 226-3993 (county FAQ).

The county code gives private ambulances a non-emergency interfacility role under a certificate from the Board of County Commissioners, while emergency pre-hospital care belongs to the county Department of Emergency Services everywhere except Indian River Shores.

Chapter 304, the county's certificate of public convenience and necessity ordinance, says the Department of Emergency Services is responsible for emergency pre-hospital advanced and basic life support within the county, with the exception of the Town of Indian River Shores, and that private services provide interfacility and interhospital non-emergency transport on request (Indian River County Code, Chapter 304). The code sets four certificate classes, A for governmental pre-hospital services and B, C and D for interfacility and out-of-county transport. A first application carries a non-refundable $100.00 filing fee, a certificate lasts up to two years and cannot be transferred without county consent, and the emergency services director inspects certificate holders with or without notice.

Before the Board of County Commissioners acts on an application, the emergency services director must investigate public need, contact the medical director, other providers and any affected city such as Vero Beach or Sebastian, and schedule a public hearing within 60 days (Chapter 304). The 2022 amendment, Ordinance 2022-001, removed the wheelchair vehicle rules that had been part of the same chapter.

The Fire Prevention Bureau at 4225 43rd Avenue, Vero Beach, (772) 226-1673, enforces the Florida Fire Prevention Code through inspections of commercial occupancies and state-licensed facilities, special event permits and fire incident review.

Its county page lists fire and life safety inspections, permits for special events and community fire, public education talks, a juvenile fire setter program, complaint response, pre-incident planning and fire code enforcement, and states an Indian River County ISO Classification of 02/2X (Indian River County Fire Prevention Bureau). Under section 208.09 the county Fire Marshal's Office works under the Fire Chief, and the fire marshal issues permits, notices and orders on life safety and fire hazards (Chapter 208). Richard Marini is listed as Deputy Fire Chief and Fire Marshal (county Fire Rescue page).

The district fire code sets firm rules. Section 208.11 calls for annual fire safety inspections of buildings named in the Florida Fire Prevention Code, with a follow-up within 45 days when violations are cited, and the occupant or owner pays for re-inspections after that (Chapter 208). Section 208.12 makes it unlawful to use fireworks in Indian River County unless the Fire Marshal's Office approves it or the law allows it, limits sales to registered wholesalers in sprinklered permanent buildings on commercial or industrial land, and bans sales from temporary structures, tents or open-air stands.

Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the Indian River County website.