Zone Zero in Crestline: the western gateway

The local snapshot

Where Crestline stands

Crestline and its neighboring Valley of Enchantment sit at the western gateway of the mountain communities, first in line where the front country climbs out of San Bernardino. The community is mapped Very High and served by county fire, which absorbed Crestline's own district in 2015. This page leads with what helps, because Crestline's fire story is mostly one of evacuations rather than losses, and keeping it that way is the point. Zone Zero (Zone 0) applies to structures here.

The local record

Twice emptied, in 2003 and 2024

Crestline knows the drill better than almost anywhere. In October 2003 the Old Fire burned up out of the front country during the firestorm that ultimately destroyed 1,003 structures countywide and took six lives; Crestline stood in its path and emptied. Twenty-one years later, the September 2024 Line Fire pushed toward the mountain communities again, and Crestline sat under warning-level alerts as Running Springs and Arrowbear evacuated outright. Two generations, two evacuations, one consistent takeaway: this community's geography makes the threat recurring, and the household-level answer is the same both times. A clean ember-resistant ring and a hardened shell are what a cabin contributes to its own defense while its owners are down the hill waiting for the all-clear.

Who enforces it

San Bernardino County Fire Protection District

Crestline is served by the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District, which annexed the community's former Crest Forest Fire Protection District in 2015. The state Zone 0 framework is the floor; the district's adopted specifics, including the zones designated by Ordinance 4489 in June 2025, apply locally. Deadlines pages carry the state defaults; your jurisdiction sets the specifics, and this page names yours. For the requirements themselves, start with the regulations guide, fences and gates, and landscaping.

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