Fire rescue and EMS — Sebastian, Florida

Indian River County Fire Rescue, a division of county Emergency Services, provides both fire protection and ambulance service in Sebastian.

The City of Sebastian runs its own police department but not a fire department, so a 911 call from the Sebastian Highlands, the riverfront or the Sebastian Municipal Airport brings county engines and county rescue units. Indian River County describes the Fire Rescue Division, headquartered at 4225 43rd Ave in Vero Beach, as providing fire protection, emergency response and lifesaving care, with emergency medical crews that assess, stabilize and transport patients to the appropriate hospital.

The same crews do both jobs. The county recruiting page states that all Operations Division personnel are trained firefighters and paramedics or EMTs able to provide basic and advanced life support, which is why the units stationed around Sebastian are listed as engines, quints and rescues rather than separate fire and ambulance services. The division's special operations also include airport firefighting and rescue, marine firefighting and dive rescue, all relevant to a city with a municipal airfield and miles of Indian River Lagoon shoreline. David Johnson is the county's Director of Emergency Services and Fire Chief, according to the county site as of October 2026.

Three county stations carry Sebastian addresses, Stations 7, 8 and 9, and two more, Stations 11 and 15, sit just outside the city in Wabasso and on County Road 512.

The county's Fire Station Locations Map data lists FIRE STATION 7 at 9700 26th Place, FIRE STATION 8 at 1115 Barber Street, and FIRE STATION 9 at 13550 Roseland Road, and places Fire Station 11 in Wabasso and the portable Fire Station 15 on County Road 512. The P in the Station 7 and Station 15 labels marks them as portable units in the county data. Sebastian Daily reported on August 28, 2026 that the department now operates out of 14 active numbered fire stations across Vero Beach, Sebastian, Fellsmere, Wabasso and the unincorporated county.

Station 9 carries the city's history. As Vero News reported on September 3, 2009, the county built a new $2.1 million Sebastian Fire Station that was moved one mile north of the city into Roseland. The old station had to be rebuilt after the 2004 hurricanes, and while it waited the crew worked out of a doublewide FEMA trailer. The original building had been the Sebastian Volunteer Station, a two story structure on a sand ridge along U.S. 1 that the county bought from the volunteers and retrofitted for round the clock staffing.

The Roseland site was a compromise. The 2009 article reports that the county had tried to place the station near Sebastian City Hall, but the Sebastian City Council of the time did not want it west of the railroad tracks for fear that passing trains would delay responses. The new building was designed to withstand 150 mph winds and to run on its own generator for a week to 10 days, with a five member crew on each of three shifts. In its last six months at the old U.S. 1 location, Station 9 had answered 1,026 calls for service.

Ambulance trips from Sebastian are billed by Indian River County as a user fee on top of taxes, through a billing contractor called EMS/MC.

Indian River County explains the fee in its Fire Rescue FAQ: everyone pays for the availability of the service, and patients treated and transported pay for the actual usage of the service, which keeps the property tax share lower. The published county rates include $809.87 for an advanced life support emergency transport, $681.98 for a basic life support emergency transport, $1,172.16 for advanced life support level 2, and $13.73 per statute mile, so a Sebastian trip south to a Vero Beach hospital adds mileage to the base charge.

Bills come from a contractor rather than City Hall. The Sebastian area's ambulance invoices are handled by EMS/MC, a third party billing company in Lewisville, North Carolina, reachable at 866-832-2193, according to Indian River County. Destination rules are set by the county as well: patients who are awake, alert and oriented may choose a hospital within Indian River County, while County Road 510 serves as the dividing line for ground transport to the closest facility and to trauma centers in Brevard and St. Lucie counties, a rule that applies to every Sebastian transport because the city lies north of County Road 510.

The City of Sebastian keeps fire prevention inspections, fire safety permits and fireworks rules for itself through a city Fire Prevention Office.

Chapter 42 of the Sebastian Code of Ordinances, rewritten by Ordinance O-19-06 in September 2019, states that the City of Sebastian Fire Prevention Office ('fire marshal') is hereby established to enforce the state fire marshal's rules and issue life safety permits and orders. In February 2020, Ordinance O-20-01 retitled that article; formerly, it was entitled Fire Department. Section 42-28 requires annual fire safety inspections of buildings covered by the Florida Fire Prevention Code within Sebastian city limits, with a follow up inspection within 45 days when violations are cited, and Section 42-1 authorizes the City Council to contract with other governments for fire protection under the Florida Interlocal Cooperation Act.

Fireworks are tightly limited. Section 42-29 makes it unlawful to sell or offer for sale any fireworks in the City of Sebastian except through registered wholesalers on land zoned commercial or industrial, and bars their use unless the Fire Prevention Office authorizes it or the use is otherwise allowed by law, such as on the three holidays in Florida Statutes section 791.08 (January 1, July 4 and December 31). The Sebastian Building Department's Fire Safety Specialty Fee schedule lists $100 for a public fireworks display, $75 for a change of occupancy with no construction, $150 for a dry hydrant test, $75 for a fire hydrant flow test and $60 for large or recurring special events, and notes that additional fees may apply for an exclusive or non-exclusive fire unit through IRC Fire Rescue, which is how organizers of a Sebastian special event, from Riverview Park to the airport, arrange a standby crew.

Commercial inspections outside the city are the job of the Indian River County Fire Prevention Bureau, at the same 43rd Avenue campus, which carries an Indian River County ISO classification of 02/2X.

Fire and EMS records and firefighter jobs at the stations serving Sebastian are Indian River County matters, not City of Sebastian ones.

Reports from a fire or ambulance call in Sebastian are county records, and the county's Fire Rescue and EMS Record Requests page routes fire reports and EMS transport reports through an online public records request, but states that CAD data and 911 call information are maintained by the Indian River County Sheriff's Office, at 772-569-6700.

Firefighter and paramedic jobs at the Sebastian stations are county jobs. The county lists a firefighter paramedic starting salary of $64,900, not counting overtime or holiday pay, plus a $7,000 protocolled paramedic incentive. Six members of the department, including Deputy Fire Chief Sean Gibbons, were recognized in August 2026 for 20 years of service, and Sebastian Daily notes that county fire service dates to December 17, 1923, when the first local department formed as a volunteer force, the same volunteer tradition that built the first Sebastian station on U.S. 1.

Last verified: October 10, 2026, on the Indian River County website and the City of Sebastian website.