Lifeguards and Guarded Beaches in Vero Beach — Vero Beach, Florida

Three city beach parks in Vero Beach have lifeguards: South Beach Park, Humiston Beach Park and Jaycee Beach Park, all owned and staffed by the city rather than by Indian River County. The City of Vero Beach Lifeguards and Water Safety page lists a staffed tower at each, with its own telephone line: South Beach Tower at 772-667-1747, Humiston Beach Tower at 772-867-2276 and Jaycee Beach Tower at 772-667-1367, along with a beach map for each park.

Guarded water is a small share of the Vero Beach shoreline. In April 2018 Vero Beach 32963 reported that the city has 4 miles of beach, of which only 600 yards lie inside the city parks that lifeguards protect. A 2015 Vero Beach Lifeguard Association study cited in the same article compared Vero Beach with 12 other municipalities from Indian River County to Miami-Dade and ranked it third for the farthest distance between towers, about 1 mile, and third for the smallest percentage of guarded beach, 9 percent.

Indian River County runs a separate lifeguard service, whose guards were employees of the county Recreation Division as of May 2025, according to Vero Beach 32963. A July 2013 Vero News report noted that county commissioners had ended lifeguard protection at Treasure Shores Beach in October 2010, a change outside the Vero Beach city parks.

The City of Vero Beach web page for lifeguards lists tower phone numbers but, as of October 8, 2026, does not post hours in its HTML text, so the documented schedule comes from dated news reports. In 2020 Vero News reported that city lifeguards' normal operating hours were 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and that during summer lifeguards were on duty from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at all three guarded beaches, with the extended hours that year beginning May 24.

The longer summer day dates to 2019. In March 2019 the city announced, in a release carried by Vero News, that it would extend lifeguard hours during the summer months to 7 p.m. at South Beach, Humiston and Jaycee parks starting Sunday, May 26, the Memorial Day weekend. The Vero Beach Lifeguard Association had recommended the change, noting that many people arrive at the beach at 5 p.m. after work and that sunset in summer is not until 8 or 9 p.m. A Hometown News report in August 2019 added that the summer schedule ran seven days a week and that 15,110 people used the guarded parks during the extra 5 to 7 p.m. window in July 2019 alone.

Earlier schedules were shorter and uneven. In July 2013 Vero News reported Humiston guarded from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., while Jaycee and South Beach were guarded from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. By April 2018 the lifeguards were going off duty at 5 p.m. at all three Vero Beach towers, according to Vero Beach 32963.

The City of Vero Beach keeps a Beach Safety Information page with three downloadable flyers: Beach Warning Flags, Lightning Information and Rip Currents Information. The flyers are PDF documents linked from the Recreation Department's lifeguard section of the Vero Beach city website, beside the per-park beach maps.

Lifeguard guidance reported in 2020 was short: Vero News relayed advice to pay attention to beach condition signs and flags, to swim near lifeguard towers and to avoid swimming during non-guarded hours. The same report described orange and white marker buoys that lifeguards placed on the prefabricated erosion prevention reef, known locally as the PEP reef, which stretches from Humiston Park Beach to the Village Spires along Central Beach in a popular surf zone. Hometown News had reported in August 2019 that volunteers from the Vero Beach Lifeguard Association were installing those buoys.

The 2019 Hometown News report also restated a Vero Beach beach rule: dogs are not allowed on any city beach or on the public beach accesses unless the dog is a service animal. The report distinguished this from a separate dog licensing arrangement in neighboring Indian River Shores.

Lifeguarding is a Recreation Department duty. The department's mission statement commits it to provide trained, certified water safety personnel at Vero Beach city beaches and aquatic facilities. The same page notes that beach wheelchairs are available free of charge during guarded hours, and that a specially designed wheelchair is kept at South Beach Park.

Staffing levels have been reported at intervals. Vero News counted seven full-time and ten part-time Vero Beach lifeguards in July 2013, who also guarded the Leisure Square pool. Vero Beach 32963 reported 19 lifeguards in April 2018, including 10 full-time employees, and said each of the three Vero Beach towers was sufficiently manned, with ATVs on each beach.

The Vero Beach Lifeguard Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, supports the city crews. According to its 2016 annual report, published by the Indian River Guardian in January 2017, money it raises buys equipment, supplies and training for City of Vero Beach lifeguards, and its reports track attendance at the guarded parks. In 2018 the association said it planned to raise $250,000 for a new tower and command center at Humiston Park and had sought additional towers at Conn Beach and Sexton Plaza, which Vero Beach 32963 reported would require new park space with restrooms and parking.

Attendance figures for the three Vero Beach guarded parks come from Vero Beach Lifeguard Association reports. Total beach park attendance in 2016 was 698,375, according to the report published by the Indian River Guardian, which added that the association estimated more than 1 million people a year visit the city beach when areas outside the guarded parks are counted.

Monthly records have kept rising. Vero Beach 32963 reported 97,305 beachgoers at the Vero Beach parks in February 2018, breaking the previous monthly record of 90,000 set in March 2015. In 2020 Vero News reported that Humiston Park Beach, Jaycee Park Beach and South Beach Park drew 91,943 beachgoers in May, beating the May record of 88,280 set in 2019. The 2016 report listed March through July as the months with the largest crowds at the Vero Beach parks.

The cost question has been open for years. In the week of May 15, 2025, Vero Beach 32963 reported that Vero Beach taxpayers would spend more than $860,000 that year in personnel and operating expenses for lifeguard coverage of the city's three beaches, and that city officials had raised the idea of an Indian River County takeover for at least four years. The topic had come up at a joint meeting of the County Commission and City Council in October 2023.

A County Commission discussion scheduled for May 2025 was pulled from the agenda at the city's request. County Administrator John Titkanich projected that expanding county lifeguard service to Vero Beach would cost about $1.1 million in the first year, including a new Humiston tower at $100,000 and nearly $75,000 for a lifeguard truck and two side-by-side beach vehicles. City Manager Monte Falls said the city still planned to buy the Humiston tower as part of replacing the storm-damaged boardwalk, and Mayor John Cotugno said the city preferred to see beach lifeguarding become part of the county Emergency Services District. Commission Chairman Joe Flescher questioned how county taxpayers would fund it, and the report recorded no decision.