Over the last eight days, approaching 55,000 acres of mountain forest in San Bernardino County have been burnt in two separate conflagrations, at least one of which was deliberately set.
The Line Fire, as was earlier reported by the Sentinel, was ignited on September 5 at roughly 6 p.m in northeast Highland near the intersection o of Baseline Road and Alpin Street by an arsonist in what is now known to have been his third attempt at starting the fire.
Originally dubbed the Baseline Fire, it resisted efforts by the California Division of Forestry, known by the acronym CalFire, which serves as the contract fire department for the City of Highland, and the San Bernardino County Fire Division, to knock it down.
A CalFire incident management team was activated on September 6, as the steep terrain of the area into which the fire was spreading created challenges.
With the escalation of the surrounding heat, the fire began to expand rapidly on September 7 into the San Bernardino Mountains, prompting evacuation orders for the communities of Running Springs and Arrowbear Lake, thereafter followed by evacuation orders to those in the communities of Angelus Oaks, Seven Oaks and all campgrounds and cabins in the area; Green Valley Lake north from Highway 18 along Green Valley Lake Road; the community of Forest Falls; and the community of Mountain Home Village. Those orders pertained to 11,400 structures under what was deemed to be immediate threat.

There are currently 56,100 structures threatened, including 11,400 under evacuation orders and 44,700 under evacuation warnings. Damage inspection teams are working in the fire area. So far, they have identified three structures that were damaged and one that was destroyed. Their inspections include residences, multi-family dwellings, outbuildings, and commercial buildings.
Evacuation orders were based upon the incident commander’s determination that there was an immediate threat to life in the area covered by the order. The issuance of the orders carried the full weight of California law, authorizing law enforcement officers to arrest those who did not comply. The areas were lawfully closed to public access.
On September 7, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency existed in San Bernardino County as a consequence of the fire, and he authorized the use of a Fire Management Assistance Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover elements of the firefighting effort.
The California National Guard was deployed, including four UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, two C-130 aircraft, hand crews, and one military police company to assist with evacuations.
As firefighters became increasingly involved in the effort, which included the deployment of the California National Guard, including four UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, two C-130 aircraft, four 20-person hand crews assigned to work in support of CalFire’s efforts and a military police company to support the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department with evacuations and traffic control points in evacuated areas, the United States Forest Service issued Forest Order NO. 05-12-00-24-09, creating a forest closure area around the Line Fire. All National Forest lands, trails, and roads were closed to the public within that zone.
Additionally, evacuation warnings, promptings short of orders, were given to residents and businesses within the communities of Cedar Glen, Lake Arrowhead, Twin Peaks, Crestline, and Valley of Enchantment, along with the area from Garnett Street east to Bryant Street and Carter Street north to Mill Creek and the area of Big Bear Valley from the dam to Cactus Road, Erwin Lake, Sugar Loaf, Big Bear City, Big Bear Lake, and Fawnskin. The evacuation warnings pertained to 44,700 structures under less than immediate threat.
In total, according to CalFire, there were 56,100 structures threatened. CalFire dispatched damage inspection teams in the fire area. In the initial round of inspections, they identified three structures that were damaged and one that was destroyed. The inspections extended to residences, multi-family dwellings, outbuildings, and commercial buildings.
On Tuesday, September 10, as the Line Fire galloping northward and upward through the forest overran and destroyed the Keller Peak Fire Lookout, a 98-year-old facility near Running Springs. Erected in 1926, it was the oldest of a handful of remaining original towers, and the one deemed to have the most picturesque view, which included Lake Arrowhead and Lake Gregory on the south side of the mountain and Lake Silverwood on the north side of the mountain and both the Pacific Ocean and Santa Catalina Island to the distant west.
The same day, 50 miles from Keller Peak and 36 miles from where the fire had started in Highland, detectives with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department sojourned across the San Bernardino County/Riverside County line to a home at 1394 Detroit Street in Norco, where they arrested 34-year-old Justin Wayne Halstenberg, whom they maintain was the persistent arsonist who had touched off the Line Fire near the intersection of Baseline Road and Alpin Street on September 5.
After investigators, led by Battalion Chief Matt Kirkhart with CalFire and Jake Hernandez of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s specialized arson unit, had determined that the fire had been deliberately set with the use of materials they said for prosecutorial reasons they cannot presently identify, they began examining available video footage including traffic cameras around Baseline Road, identifying a white truck as the vehicle used by the arsonist. Further evidence implicating Halstenberg was obtained from at least one license plate reader in the area. Investigators made a direct link between Halstenberg and the ignition of the fire on the basis of his vehicle license plate, which was documented by the license plate recorder as being in the area at the time of what can be shown as the third and successful effort to start the fire, as well as at two previous unsuccessful attempts.
A search warrant was served at Halstenberg’s home at the time of his arrest. According to investigators, material indicating he was responsible for setting the wildfire was found during that search.
On Thursday, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office charged Halstenberg, who remains in jail without bail, with nine felony counts, including a single count of aggravated arson, three counts of arson on structure or forest land, three counts of possession of material or a device for arson, one count of arson resulting in bodily harm, and a count of arson of an inhabited structure.
He was set to be arraigned today, Friday September 13, in Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court, but the matter was postponed until Monday.
According to prosecutors, on September 5, Halstenberg succeeded in creating a grass fire in a field near Bacon and Lytle lanes in Highland. That fire was reported and quickly extinguished by local firefighters. Halstenberg, who was lurking in the area, made a second attempt at igniting a fire just east of Bacon Lane, near Base Line and Aplin streets. A passer-by acted quickly to stomp the fire out. “Undeterred, he ignited a third fire, which is what we now know as the Line Fire,” according to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.
CalFire officials reported that on Thursday, September 12, Line Fire’s spread “was less intense overnight due to cooler weather and good moisture recoveries.” They said the fire had to that point covered 37,207 acres and was at 18 percent containment.
Later, fire officials that that the effort to bring the fire under control had been aided by “cooler weather and smoke shading” but that “Fire established in drainages will still exhibit fire spread. Firefighters are building and strengthening control lines and mopping up hot spots.”
Three firefighters had been injured, although not severely, while responding to the fire, with no civilian injuries or deaths had reported as of mid-day Thursday, September 12.
There have been school closures in some areas.
Over the 24 hours between yesterday and today, another 867 acres had been charred.
As of today, September 13, 2024 at press time. the fire has burned 38,074 acres. Officials said the fire was 25 percent contained, the result of a herculean all-out effort by more than 3,000 firefighters put in on Thursday and Thursday night. That undertaking was assisted by Mother Nature in the form of increased humidity due and lower temperatures.
The fire, according to CalFire, as of September 13 had been limited to “smoldering spots with some limited and creeping, based on our having encountered favorable weather conditions.” Crews had been detailed to the Santa Ana Creek area southwest of Big Bear, where the effort was to douse the flames before they reach the canyon wall, as the canyon’s steep slope would allow the fire to boost itself upward and potentially to the chaparral above it.
Evacuation orders and road closures remain in effect. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said the evacuation orders for Running Springs and Arrowbear will remain operative over the weekend as well as for several other mountain areas, including the west end of Big Bear Lake from the Big Bear Dam to Wildrose Lane and from the southern shoreline to Bluff Lake Basin. The City of Big Bear Lake has specified the sole evacuation route from those areas as being Highway 18 toward Lucerne Valley.
The evacuation warnings for the communities of Baldwin Lake and Lake Williams from Highway 38 north to Highway 18 and Baldwin Lake east have been withdrawn, for the time being.
Earlier today, CalFire said the evacuation orders for Mountain Home Village, Forest Falls, Angelus Oaks, and Seven Oaks “will remain in place for at least the next two days.”
“The Line fire was less active overnight due to high moisture levels in the air,” CalFire announced today. “There are occasional runs in slopes and drainages. The weekend will bring continued cooler temperatures, which will help moderate fire activity and bring moisture levels up the vegetation.”
Evacuation centers/shelters for those in the San Bernardino Mountains have been set up at: A) building 6 of the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds, located at 14800 7th Street in Victorville. The zip code is 92395. B) Jessie Turner Health and Fitness Community Center 15556 Summit Avenue in Fontana. The zip code is 92336. The phone number is (909) 854-5100. C) Hacienda Heights Community Center 1234 Valencia Hacienda Heights. The zip code is 91745. The phone number is (800) 733-2767.
Burning simultaneously with the Line Fire is the Bridge Fire.
The Bridge Fire began in Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County at approximately what the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection pegged as 2:12 p.m. Sunday, September 8 near East Fork and Glendora Mountain roads, near Cattle Canyon Bridge, in San Gabriel Canyon.
The fire had a relatively gradual build-up, as it reached 800 acres by Sunday evening, 1,255 acres by Monday morning September 9. At 5:30 p.m. on Monday, September 9, evacuation orders were issued for Mount Baldy Village, in the area between San Antonio Dam and Mount Baldy Resort. By that night, the fire had burned 2,995 acres. Firefighters were concentrated on halting any southward progression of the fire and protecting homes in the area of the East Fork of the San Gabriel River on the Los Angeles County side.
By mid-day Tuesday, September 10, the fire had charred 4,100 acres.
Later on September 10, as the temperature continued to soar in the late afternoon, the fire expanded to 34,000 acres. In describing this expansion, firefighting professionals referred to the fire as “exploding,” within a matter of three hours.
Because of prevailing wind conditions, the fire has migrated east and north, pushing it into San Bernardino County and from the south side of the San Gabriel Mountains, where it began, over the top to the back or north side of the range. The fire has thus come to straddle both Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
It continued to grow overnight, burning an additional 13,000 acres on its northern and eastern flanks as firefighters prioritized protecting buildings in Wrightwood, Piñon Hills and Mount Baldy Village.
By Wednesday, September 11, 480 firefighting personnel were assigned to the Bridge Fire.
The Bridge Fire so far has destroyed at least 39 buildings, 20 of which were in Mount Baldy Village and another 13 in Wrightwood, as well as six cabins burned in the mountain wilderness. The fire roared through the Mountain High ski resort, shuttered for the summer season. Prior to it doing so, Mountain High staff members, somewhat intrepidly and riskily, used water made to spout from the facility’s snowmaking machines to douse surrounding vegetation and the structures and features of the resort, thereby greatly reducing the damage to the ski runs, ski lift and other elements of the resort.
As of September 12, 2024, the fire had burned 51,792 acres, making it the third-largest wildfire in California so far in 2024 and was completely uncontained.
At 4:45 p.m. on Thursday, September 12, the Golden State Water Company informed consumers in Wrightwood that tap water there is unsafe for drinking and cooking.
“The Golden State Water Company-Wrightwood water system experienced wildfire impacts and may have fire-related contamination,” according to a statement issued by Golden State in conjunction with the California State Water Resources Control Board. “As a precautionary measure, this notice is being issued until data determines the water is safe to drink.”
The water was not safe, even if boiled, officials cautioned.
It was suggested that fire suppression foam, which involves the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals,” because of the difficulty in removing them from the water supply, had contaminated a Golden State reservoir or well.
The fire caused a pressure loss in the system, according to Golden State.
“These conditions may have caused harmful contaminants, including benzene and other volatile organic chemicals to enter the water system,” the statement said. “Failure to follow this advisory could result in illness.”
The Environmental Protection Agency considers water containing more than four parts per trillion of perfluoroalkyl and and polyfluoroalkyl substances to be unfit for human consumption.
Just after 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 12, officials called for stepped up evacuation from Mount Baldy Village. Sheriff’s deputies were present en masse for a very short time in Baldy Village on Thursday evening, informing any remaining locals of the decalaration of the evacuation zone there. “Effective immediately,” the area from San Antonio Heights north to Wrightwood, as well east to Cucamonga Peak, was under a mandatory evacuation order, the department announced via text and social media posts.
As of 6 a.m. Friday, the fire’s rapid growth had been attenuated, having expanded to 51,884 acres, with 3 percent containment.
No deaths or significant injuries have been attributed to the Bridge Fire as of press time.
-Mark Gutglueck