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San Bernardino County, California

Wildfire risk in San Bernardino County: where it is highest, and why

Wildfire risk is not uniform across San Bernardino County. In the places we scored, overall wildfire risk runs from 21.1 up to 84.8, with a midpoint of 49.1.

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San Bernardino County — the largest fires on record, at their perimeter centres, with the county’s main communities. Select a marker for its detail.
At a glance

Half of San Bernardino County scores Moderate or worse

We scored 202 points across San Bernardino County on the same 0–100 scale a Satelife address report uses, and they do not land in one place. 4% of them come out Very High, while 5% are Low. Which end your own parcel sits at is not something a county map can tell you.

Very High 4% · 8 of 202 points High 43% · 87 of 202 points Moderate 48% · 96 of 202 points Low 5% · 11 of 202 points
Safest end we measured 21.1 near Fontana · Low
Middle of the county 49.1 Moderate — half of San Bernardino County is above this
Most exposed end we measured 84.8 near Apple Valley · Very High

And the federal models agree it is a fire county

Very High FEMA National Risk Index — wildfire risk rating · index score 99.9 / 100
$145.7M / yr FEMA NRI — expected annual loss from wildfire · rated Very High
0.40% USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities — mean annual burn probability · 90th-percentile cell 0.64%
3.72 ft USFS WRC — mean conditional flame length · 88% of the county carries burnable fuel

FEMA NRI also rates San Bernardino County: all-hazards risk Very High · social vulnerability Relatively Low · community resilience Relatively Low · annualised wildfire frequency 0.0095.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index 1.20.0 (Dec 2025), county record · USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities v2.0, mean of the grid cells inside the county. Both describe the county as a whole, never an address in it.

What does your San Bernardino County address score?

A county range shows the spread. Your parcel sits somewhere inside it — the report says where, and what to do about it.

Free to request · PDF report with a 0–100 score, the drivers behind it, and a mitigation plan

Local context

What the data says about San Bernardino County

Most scored locations fall in the Moderate tier (96 points), with High close behind (87 points). There are fewer points in Low (11) and Very High (8), so buyers and owners can see very different risk levels depending on location.

FEMA’s National Risk Index rates San Bernardino County as “Very High” for wildfire risk, and also “Very High” for expected annual wildfire loss. Those are county-wide FEMA ratings, not neighborhood ratings.

Fire record

Where the fires actually were

Fire activity has been substantial in this county: 915,062 acres have burned since 1984, and that equals 7.1% of the county. The county has recorded 448 fire perimeters over that period.

The largest fire listed here is the York fire (2023) at 93,078 acres. The most recent large fire is Gold (2025).

Other major fires in the county record include Old (2003), which destroyed 1,003 structures, and Line (2024) at 43,976 acres. Together with fires such as Sawtooth Complex (2006), Wildhorse (2005), and Apple (2020), they show repeated large-fire exposure over time.

York Fire (2023) in San Bernardino County, California - York Fire glowing in the background on the evening of 7-29-23 in San Bernardino Co. California
York Fire, 2023 — San Bernardino County. Photo: US Federal Government · Public domain
Old Fire (2003) in San Bernardino County, California - San Bernardino, CA, October 30, 2003 — The Old Fire (2003) Twisted metal is all that remains of this home in Waterman Canyon that
Old Fire, 2003 — San Bernardino County. Photo: Kevin Galvin · Public domain
448 mapped fire perimeters centred in the county since 1984
915,062 acres inside those perimeters since 1984
7.1% of the county's area, as a share of 51,824.4 km²
Gold 2025 most recent large fire on record
Named fires on record
  • York Fire202393,078 acres
  • Old Fire200391,428 acres1,003 structures destroyed
  • Line Fire202443,976 acres
  • Sawtooth Complex Fire200661,767 acres
  • Wildhorse Fire200563,771 acres
  • Apple Fire202033,236 acres
  • Blue Cut Fire201636,267 acres
  • Willow Fire199963,508 acres

Perimeter sources: NIFC Interagency Fire Perimeter History · WFIGS Interagency Perimeters · largest on record: York 2023. Perimeters are simplified for display; acreage is the figure the source records.

Communities

Where in the county you are matters most

Among the largest cities, typical scored wildfire risk is lower in San Bernardino (21.4), Fontana (21.1), and Ontario (21.1). Rancho Cucamonga is higher at 30.1.

Several mountain and foothill communities are notably higher, including Crestline (70.5), Piñon Hills (70.6), and Lucerne Valley (75.2). Big Bear City is also elevated at 62.5.

Desert and high-desert communities are mixed rather than uniform. Victorville is 48.3, Hesperia is 35.4, and Apple Valley is much higher at 67.4.

Lucerne Valley village
75.2 Very High
Wrightwood town · 4,525 people
73.7 High
Mount Baldy village
72.8 High
Running Springs town · 4,862 people
71.8 High
Piñon Hills town · 7,258 people
70.6 High
Crestline town · 11,650 people
70.5 High
Apple Valley town · 68,886 people
67.4 High
Twin Peaks village
64.8 High
Big Bear City town · 12,738 people
62.5 High
Rimforest village
62.5 High
42 more communities in San Bernardino County
Oak Hills town · 9,450 people
62.4 High
Agua Fria village
61.4 High
Blue Jay village
61.4 High
Big Bear Lake town · 5,046 people
59.3 High
Chino Hills town · 74,799 people
59.2 High
Yucca Valley town · 21,738 people
58.4 High
Morongo Valley village · 3,514 people
58.1 High
Lake Arrowhead town · 12,401 people
57.9 High
Big River village · 1,084 people
56 High
Redlands town · 68,747 people
51.2 High
Helendale village
48.7 Moderate
Victorville city · 122,225 people
48.3 Moderate
Highland town · 51,550 people
48.3 Moderate
Fort Irwin village · 8,096 people
46.9 Moderate
Joshua Tree town · 6,489 people
46.2 Moderate
Yermo village · 623 people
43.5 Moderate
Phelan town
43.2 Moderate
Mentone village
43 Moderate
Yucaipa town · 50,223 people
42.1 Moderate
Baker village · 442 people
41.8 Moderate
Lenwood village · 3,623 people
41 Moderate
Silver Lakes village · 6,317 people
40.9 Moderate
Needles town · 5,330 people
39.8 Moderate
Daggett village
39.1 Moderate
Trona village
39 Moderate
Argus village
38.8 Moderate
Hesperia city · 99,818 people
35.4 Moderate
Adelanto town · 38,644 people
33.3 Moderate
Rancho Cucamonga city · 170,714 people
30.1 Moderate
Grand Terrace town · 12,250 people
28.3 Moderate
Barstow city · 25,415 people
26.3 Moderate
Bloomington town · 23,851 people
26.1 Moderate
Twentynine Palms town · 28,065 people
24.7 Low
Loma Linda town · 23,261 people
24.4 Low
Rialto town · 99,467 people
24.1 Low
San Bernardino city · 222,101 people
21.4 Low
Fontana city · 196,069 people
21.1 Low
Ontario city · 173,351 people
21.1 Low
Chino town · 77,983 people
21.1 Low
Upland town · 73,379 people
21.1 Low
Colton town · 51,427 people
21.1 Low
Montclair town · 35,544 people
21.1 Low

The score is the median of the sampled points nearest that community — a community-scale indicator, not a score for any individual property in it. Population comes from the community's own record where the source carries one.

Terrain & fuels

Terrain, vegetation and fuels

Terrain contributes strongly to wildfire risk in this county. Terrain scores are generally elevated, with a county midpoint of 65.0 and a top scored value of 65.0 at Yucca Valley.

Vegetation and fuels are also elevated in many places. The midpoint is 74.3, with a high of 80.0 at Joshua Tree and a low of 20.0 at San Bernardino.

State hazard-zone scoring varies widely by location, from 10.0 at Mentone to 95.0 at Apple Valley. That spread lines up with why risk can differ so sharply from one community to another.

Fire-history scoring is low in many places but high in some, with a midpoint of 5.0 and a high of 95.0 at Yucca Valley. Past burn patterns are one of the factors associated with current wildfire risk levels.

65 median terrain score (max 65 near Yucca Valley)
74.3 median vegetation & fuels score (max 80 near Joshua Tree)
LANDFIRE existing vegetation type map of San Bernardino County, California, with the county boundary outlined
LANDFIRE existing vegetation type across San Bernardino County — the same fuel data that feeds the vegetation layer of a Satelife property report.
Fire weather

Fire weather across San Bernardino County

Fire weather was measured across the county and is elevated in many scored locations. Scores run from 54.8 at Yucca Valley to 83.3 near Fort Irwin, with a midpoint of 68.0.

A separate federal model, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities product, reports a mean annual burn probability of 0.40% for the county. Its 90th-percentile cell value is 0.64%.

That same USFS model indicates 87.5% of the county is in areas that can burn. This burn-probability model is useful context, but it is different from local fire-weather scoring.

54.8 lowest fire-weather score — near Yucca Valley
83.3 highest fire-weather score — near Fort Irwin
What drives it

Which part of the risk moves, and which doesn't

Risk can change a lot across nearby places. At the low end of scored locations are places like Fontana at 21.1, while the highest scored location is Apple Valley at 84.8.

Higher typical scores appear in several mountain and high-desert communities, including Wrightwood (73.7) and Running Springs (71.8). Lower typical scores appear in parts of the Inland Empire, including Ontario (21.1).

There are also mid-to-higher communities such as Redlands (51.2) and Chino Hills (59.2), showing that wildfire risk is not just a mountain-only pattern.

Each bar is what one part of the score covers across San Bernardino County, on the same 0–100 scale. A long bar is a part of the risk that depends on where you are; a short one is the same almost everywhere.

Terrain
20–65 highest near Yucca Valley
Vegetation & fuels
20–80 highest near Joshua Tree
Hazard zone
10–95 highest near Apple Valley
Fire history
5–95 highest near Yucca Valley
Fire weather
54.8–83.3 highest near Fort Irwin
Overall score
21.1–84.8 highest near Apple Valley

The tick on each bar is the middle value. Tier boundaries — Moderate at 25, High at 50, Very High at 75 — are the faint lines behind them.

Show every number behind these bars
Layer Min Median Max Lowest place Highest place Points
Terrain 20 65 65 unincorporated San Bernardino County Yucca Valley 202
Vegetation & fuels 20 74.3 80 San Bernardino Joshua Tree 202
Hazard zone 10 24.2 95 Mentone Apple Valley 202
Fire history 5 5 95 unincorporated San Bernardino County Yucca Valley 202
Fire weather 54.8 68 83.3 Yucca Valley near Fort Irwin 202
Composite 21.1 49.1 84.8 Fontana Apple Valley 202

Independently of Satelife's layers, the USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities grid puts the county's mean annual burn probability at 0.40% (90th percentile cell: 0.64%), with a mean conditional flame length of 3.72 ft. 88% of the 28,832 grid cells inside the county carry burnable fuel at all.

Source: USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities v2.0 (ImageServer, county extent).

CAL FIRE has no mapped Fire Hazard Severity Zone at 116 of the 202 sampled points — the zones cover Local Responsibility Areas, and most of this county is state or federal land. At 63 of them the USFS grid above supplied the hazard reading instead; at the remaining 53 the hazard weight is renormalised away rather than scored as low.

202 sample points on a ~2.3 km grid, plus one at the centre of each community, weighted with the Satelife county profile v1 · median layer coverage 100%. Scores are 0–100 and comparable within the county, not across states.

For a property

What a county range means for one address

For a home-level decision, the key point is local variation: nearby communities can sit in different tiers and score bands. For example, Lake Arrowhead is 57.9 while Running Springs is 71.8.

Countywide, the scored range of 21.1 to 84.8 means two properties in the same broad market area can face different wildfire-risk profiles. That is why address-specific scoring matters for pricing conversations and disclosure context.

If you are comparing homes, use the four-tier result for each address as the primary summary, then look at the underlying factors like terrain, fuels, fire history, and fire weather to understand what is contributing to that tier.

Across 202 sampled points in San Bernardino County, the score runs from 21.1 to 84.8 — two neighbouring parcels can sit in different tiers. A county number is the middle of that spread; it says nothing about which end yours is at.

Find out where your San Bernardino County parcel sits

Slope, the fuel touching the structure, the road out, the fire history within a mile — measured at your address, not averaged across the county.

Free to request · PDF report with a 0–100 score, the drivers behind it, and a mitigation plan

Coverage

ZIP codes we cover in San Bernardino County

Every one of the 129 ZIP areas that touch San Bernardino County — we run address-level reports in all of them. They are grouped by the median score of the points we sampled inside each, which is a neighbourhood-scale indicator and not a score for any property: two homes in the same ZIP routinely land in different tiers.

Very High 1 ZIP

High 28 ZIPs

Moderate 25 ZIPs

Low 10 ZIPs

No sampled point inside 65 ZIPs

85344 Big River · 86403 Big River · 86404 Needles · 86406 Big River · 86436 Needles · 86440 Needles · 89029 Needles · 89046 · 91701 Rancho Cucamonga · 91708 Chino · 91711 Montclair · 91737 Rancho Cucamonga · 91739 Rancho Cucamonga · 91752 Rancho Cucamonga · 91761 Ontario · 91762 Ontario · 91765 Chino Hills · 91766 Chino Hills · 91767 Montclair · 91784 Upland · 92220 Yucaipa · 92223 Yucaipa · 92225 · 92239 · 92267 Big River · 92278 Twentynine Palms · 92282 Morongo Valley · 92304 · 92320 Yucaipa · 92322 Crestline · 92328 · 92333 Big Bear Lake · 92336 Fontana · 92337 Fontana · 92339 Big Bear Lake · 92341 Running Springs · 92368 Helendale · 92369 Highland · 92377 Rialto · 92385 Rimforest · 92386 Big Bear City · 92389 · 92392 Oak Hills · 92394 Adelanto · 92404 Rimforest · 92405 San Bernardino · 92407 Crestline · 92408 Loma Linda · 92410 San Bernardino · 92411 San Bernardino · 92415 San Bernardino · 92501 Grand Terrace · 92507 Grand Terrace · 92509 Bloomington · 92821 Chino Hills · 92823 Chino Hills · 92880 Chino · 92886 Chino Hills · 92887 Chino Hills · 93516 Silver Lakes · 93528 · 93535 Piñon Hills · 93544 Piñon Hills · 93555 Argus · 93591 Piñon Hills

Grouped from 64 of 129 ZIP areas — the rest had no sample point fall inside them. The community shown is the nearest mapped place to the ZIP's centre.

ZIP areas are Census 2020 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas intersecting the county boundary.

Where to go next

San Bernardino County wildfire risk in context

California wildfire risk The statewide picture and every county page we publish Wildfire risk by state Every state and county we cover How Satelife calculates wildfire risk Data sources, layers, score composition, honest limits Create a wildfire evacuation plan Zones, egress routes, refuge areas Run a report for a San Bernardino County address PDF + score + mitigation plan
FAQ

Frequently asked questions about San Bernardino County wildfire risk

How much of San Bernardino County has burned in recent decades?

Since 1984, 915,062 acres have burned in San Bernardino County, which is 7.1% of the county area.

What are the biggest and most recent large fires I should know?

The largest fire listed here is York (2023) at 93,078 acres. The most recent large fire is Gold (2025).

Did any major fire destroy structures in the county?

Yes. The Old fire (2003) is listed with 1,003 structures destroyed.

What does FEMA say about countywide wildfire risk?

FEMA’s National Risk Index rates San Bernardino County “Very High” for wildfire risk and “Very High” for expected annual wildfire loss.

Is fire weather included, and how is that different from burn probability?

Yes. Fire-weather scores were measured across the county, from 54.8 to 83.3 in the scored locations. Separately, the USFS model reports a mean annual burn probability of 0.40% and a 90th-percentile value of 0.64%.

This page is generated from a San Bernardino County data pack assembled on 2026-08-18 (pack v1.0). Scores are sampled across the county, not measured at any individual address, and are informational decision support — not a substitute for official evacuation orders, a fire-agency hazard determination, or an insurer's underwriting judgement. Data versions: fema_nri 1.20.0 (Dec 2025) · landfire per adapter · nifc_history All Years View · wfigs current · wrc v2.0 (2024) · zcta Census 2020.

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