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What the ember-resistant zone rules mean for this city, under the actual designation and the actual fire authority.
The local snapshot
The city of San Bernardino runs right up against the front country: its northern neighborhoods climb toward the mountains along the same canyons that have carried fire down into the streets before. The city's Very High designations concentrate on that northern edge, and since 2016 the city's fire protection has been the county district's job, a governance fact that matters under Zone 0 because the district's adopted specifics govern. Zone Zero (Zone 0) applies within the mapped zones, and the city's own history is the county's hardest chapter.
The local record
The Old Fire of October 2003 was set deliberately in the foothills above the city during Southern California's worst fire siege of the era. It burned 91,281 acres, destroyed 1,003 structures by CAL FIRE's official count, caused roughly $1.2 billion in damage, and took six lives; the arsonist was convicted. For San Bernardino's northern neighborhoods, the fire wasn't a mountain story, it was a city story: flame and ember coming down out of the canyons into streets where homes met the wildland edge. That edge hasn't moved. The 2024 Line Fire, arson again, ignited in the foothills one city over. What changed since 2003 is the law: the ember-resistant first five feet those northern parcels will be required to keep is precisely the ground the Old Fire exploited.
Who enforces it
The city of San Bernardino is served by the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District, which annexed the city's own fire department in 2016. 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.
Questions
The city's northern foothill neighborhoods carry Very High designations where streets meet the front country. Much of the central and southern city sits outside the zones, so check your specific parcel.
The San Bernardino County Fire Protection District, which annexed the city's fire department in 2016 and designated the current zones by Ordinance 4489 in June 2025.
The 2003 arson fire came down the canyons into the city's northern neighborhoods as part of a firestorm that destroyed 1,003 structures countywide and killed six people. It's the defining reason the city's wildland edge carries the designations it does.
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