Escambia County, FL Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Chapter 42, Article VI of the Escambia County Code (the "County Nuisance Abatement Ordinance") lists conditions that constitute prima facie evidence of a nuisance in the unincorporated county. The first, § 42-196(a), targets "the creation or maintenance of any condition conducive to the breeding of rats, vermin, flies, mosquitoes, or other arthropods that are capable of transmitting diseases directly or indirectly to humans." That covers standing water, uncontained garbage, animal waste, or other conditions that draw disease vectors onto a residential or commercial lot, whether the property is developed or vacant. Under § 42-196(e), the property owner or agent is liable once the condition has existed for 48 hours or more, regardless of who actually caused it.

The required fix is spelled out at § 42-197(a): for conditions conducive to breeding rats, vermin, flies, mosquitoes or other arthropods, the ordinance calls for "complete removal of all contributing conditions," not a partial screening or trapping measure. The county's office of code enforcement investigates and enforces the article (§ 42-198), using the same notice, hearing and abatement procedure set out at § 42-164 for the county's other nuisance ordinances: a certified-mail demand and posted placard, a ten-day cure period (three days for repeat violations), a right to a Board of County Commissioners hearing, and county abatement with a recorded lien if the owner does not act. Municipal rights-of-way and government-owned land are exempt from the article under § 42-194. As with the county's other nuisance provisions, this rule reaches unincorporated communities such as Bellview, Ferry Pass, Gonzalez, Molino and Perdido Key; Pensacola and Century enforce mosquito and rodent conditions under their own codes.