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Hurricane Isaias · Escambia County, FL

A Trailer on Your Lot in Pensacola
After Hurricane Isaias

If your home in Pensacola, Perdido Key, and unincorporated Escambia County is not livable after Isaias, you may be able to stay on your own property while it is repaired. We deliver a furnished travel trailer to your driveway or yard, set it up, have it connected, and service it for the whole stay. When a carrier approves the trailer, we can bill the carrier directly.

Local rules. Escambia County allows an RV as temporary housing while a damaged home is repaired, with Development Services approval and utility permits, and Florida law limits how a city or county can prohibit one after the Governor’s declaration. Each rule is linked to its official source below.

Housing a crew? No rule we found lets a crew live in RVs on a job site in Pensacola or Escambia County beyond the county’s 14-day single-RV allowance. Crew rules and housing

Satellite: GOES-East. Radar: NEXRAD. Track, cone, and warnings: National Hurricane Center Advisory 13. All at 4 PM CDT Oct. 9. Latest forecast: nhc.noaa.gov

Hurricane Isaias and Escambia County

Go back into an evacuated area, and plan a delivery there, only when local officials say it is safe, and follow road closures. For Escambia County, official updates come from the Escambia County Emergency Management (Storm Center) and Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Storm facts

  • The storm. At 4 p.m. CDT on October 9, 2026, National Hurricane Center Advisory 13 had Isaias as a Category 3 hurricane, expected to make landfall along the coast of the western Florida Panhandle that evening. The hurricane warning ran from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay and Gulf county line in Florida. National Hurricane Center
  • Florida. Executive Order 26-211, signed October 7, 2026, put 27 north Florida counties under a state of emergency, including Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, and Leon. Florida Executive Order 26-211

Checked against the sources above as of . For current conditions, go to the source.

A trailer on your own lot in Escambia County

Whether a trailer can stay on your lot is decided by your city, or by the county outside city limits, and by your HOA if you have one. Here is what each one’s own code or official page says, in short. Our parent brand covers the residential RV rules for Pensacola and Escambia County in detail.

  • City of Pensacola. The zoning code says an RV kept on a residential lot may not be used for living or sleeping and may connect only to electricity, and the city has no disaster permit of its own. Florida’s temporary shelter law, below, bars the city from prohibiting one shelter on a damaged home’s lot when its conditions are met; ask Building Inspections about permits for the water, sewer, and power hookups. Source: Pensacola Code of Ordinances, Sec. 12-3-59
  • Perdido Key. The county’s post-storm permitting page says an RV or trailer may be placed as temporary housing in mainland Escambia County and Perdido Key while a damaged home is repaired or replaced, with approval from Development Services (Planning and Zoning) and a permit for every utility connection. Source: Escambia County, permitting after a storm
  • Unincorporated Escambia County. The Land Development Code allows one RV per lot as disaster recovery housing by land use permit while a damaged single-family home is repaired or rebuilt, lived in by the home’s resident, with power, water, and sewer connections that meet the Florida Building Code and placement that meets floodplain rules. The code says to apply within six months of the disaster date and remove the RV within ten days after the certificate of occupancy. Source: Escambia County Land Development Code, Sec. 4-7.13

Pensacola Beach is handled separately: the county’s storm page sends temporary housing there to the Santa Rosa Island Authority.

Florida’s temporary shelter law

Florida law says that after the Governor declares a state of emergency for a natural emergency, a county (section 125.023) or a city (section 166.0335) may not prohibit one temporary shelter, which includes a recreational vehicle or trailer, on the residential property of a home that was damaged and made uninhabitable. That protection runs for up to 36 months after the declaration or until a certificate of occupancy is issued for the home, whichever comes first, and only while three things are true: the resident is making a good-faith effort to rebuild or renovate, such as applying for a building permit; the shelter is connected to water and electric utilities and is not a threat to health and safety; and the resident lives in it. Local permits for the hookups still apply.

Florida Statutes, section 125.023 (counties) | Florida Statutes, section 166.0335 (cities)

If insurance may pay for your housing

That depends on your policy and your adjuster. When a carrier approves the trailer, we can bill the carrier directly, so you are not fronting the cost. Our parent brand explains the claim side on 1st Choice Living’s Florida page. Once the placement is arranged, the trailer, delivery, and service are ours.

Every size arrives furnished, with real beds, a full kitchen, a bathroom with a shower, and heat and air conditioning. More on a trailer on your property while you rebuild.

Already working with a temporary housing company?

We work with any temporary housing company. If one is handling your housing, ask them to place you with Temporary RV Living, or with our parent brand, 1st Choice Living, for a trailer on your own lot in Escambia County. They send us the placement, and we deliver, set up, and service the trailer.

Crew trailers on a job site in Escambia County

For restoration, roofing, tree, utility, and response crews working in Pensacola, Perdido Key, and unincorporated Escambia County. Bring the housing to the work. We deliver travel trailers to the site, or as close as the ground allows, and set up and connect them the same way we do in a driveway. A two-person crew fits one trailer. A full crew takes a cluster, and the Workforce Bunkhouse sleeps six or more per trailer, with a kitchen and a bathroom the crew shares. One point of contact runs the placement, it lands on one invoice billed directly to the company, and we handle the LOA, COI, and compliance paperwork your office or your client requires.

What the local codes say about trailers on a job site

  • City of Pensacola. No provision lets anyone live or sleep in an RV or travel trailer on a job site or commercial property. The only on-site worker housing in the code is a manufactured home, not an RV, for a guard or caretaker on industrial property, removable whenever the City Council decides. Source: Pensacola Code of Ordinances, Sec. 12-3-91
  • Perdido Key. Follows the county rule: outside a licensed campground or RV park, one RV may be used as living quarters on a parcel for no more than 14 days a calendar year, with the landowner’s authorization and a county land use certificate, kept road-ready on quick-disconnect utilities. Source: Escambia County Land Development Code, Sec. 4-7.10
  • Unincorporated Escambia County. A construction office is allowed on an active site by land use permit, but it must be a state-approved modular building used for administration. Disaster recovery RVs are only for the resident of a damaged home, and a damaged business may use only a modular building, for business activities. Outside RV parks, the 14-day single-RV allowance is the limit. Source: Escambia County Land Development Code, Sec. 4-7.10

Ask Escambia County Planning and Zoning, or the city, what it will permit for the site before delivery. More on crew housing.

Power, water, and sewer for a trailer in Escambia County

Water, sewer or septic, and electrical connections are completed by licensed, insured contractors from our preferred vendor network, so you do not hire an electrician or a plumber. We look at how far the trailer will sit from the water, sewer, and power it will use, and confirm the site with you on the call before the trailer rolls.

Electric service in Escambia County comes from the utilities below. Each posts its own outage and storm updates.

Permit offices and emergency management in Escambia County

Call the office for the city where the trailer will sit, or the county office outside city limits. Ask whether a travel trailer may be used there, for how long, and which permits the hookups need.

What we need to start

  • The address where the trailer will sit
  • When you need it, and who is moving in: your household, pets included, or the crew head count
  • What the site has: a route in, firm ground close to level, and where the water, sewer or septic, and power are
  • For a company: in the form, choose “I am arranging it for someone else,” then “Employer housing a crew” or “Contractor or restoration”
  • Any approval the city, county, or HOA has given, or the office you have been working with

Answer a few questions in the request form and a rep calls you back with a written quote, or call (214) 493-1515.

Questions about trailers in Escambia County

Can I put a travel trailer on my lot in unincorporated Escambia County while my house is repaired?

Yes, with approval. The county says an RV or trailer may be placed as temporary housing in mainland Escambia County and Perdido Key while a damaged home is repaired or replaced, approved by Development Services (Planning and Zoning), with a permit for every utility connection. Pensacola Beach goes through the Santa Rosa Island Authority instead.

Does Florida law let me live in an RV on my lot in Pensacola after Hurricane Isaias?

Section 166.0335 of the Florida Statutes says that after the Governor declares a state of emergency, a city may not prohibit one temporary shelter, such as an RV, on the lot of a home made uninhabitable, for up to 36 months or until a certificate of occupancy, if you are making a good-faith effort to rebuild, the shelter is connected to water and electric, and you live in it. Ask City of Pensacola Building Inspections about the hookup permits.

Can a utility or restoration crew stay in travel trailers on a job site in Pensacola?

Not under any rule we found. The City of Pensacola has no provision for living in an RV on a job site, and in unincorporated Escambia County and Perdido Key one RV may be used as living quarters on a parcel for no more than 14 days a calendar year, with the landowner’s authorization and a county land use certificate. Construction offices there must be modular buildings. Ask the county or city before delivery.

Who approves temporary housing on a lot in Escambia County?

In unincorporated Escambia County and Perdido Key, the county's Planning and Zoning Department approves the placement, at 850-595-3475 or zoninginfo@myescambia.com per the county's storm page, and Building Services issues the utility permits at 850-595-3550. Inside the city, call Building Inspections at (850) 436-5600.

Do you deliver travel trailers to Pensacola after Hurricane Isaias?

We deliver, set up, and service trailers nationwide, and have since 2004. Put the Pensacola address in the request form and we confirm the site with you on the call. Plan a delivery into an evacuated area only once local officials, including the Escambia County Emergency Management Storm Center, say it is safe to return.

Tell us where the trailer needs to be

For your family or a crew, answer a few questions and a rep calls you back with a written quote.