Yermo, which throughout most of the 20th Century was an independent and flourishing community in San Bernardino County’s vast desert outback, over the last several months has made preparations toward surrendering a key element of that independence. Further anticipated administrative action later this and next year will likely result in all aspects of the Yermo community’s public safety operations residing in the hands of county officials in San Bernardino.
Situated at a division point of the old Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad which was later absorbed by the Union Pacific Railroad Company, Yermo was founded in 1902. A post office was established there in 1905. During the decade from 1910-to-1920, as the federal government was attempting to establish what was referred to as the all-weather Auto Trails System in the Southwest, the Arrowhead Trail, running from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, was routed through Yermo. In the 1920s, the Arrowhead Trail would be rechristened U.S. Route 91. It was as a major stop along Route 91 that Yermo came to full fruition as a community.
In its heyday, Yermo featured 27 gas stations, most of which employed mechanics, a machine shop capable of fabricating a host of auto parts, a hardware store, four real estate offices, seven restaurants, two grocery stores, a hardware store, seven bars/taverns, three motels, a thrift store, roadside camping sites and two parks.
In 1942, the Marine Corps established Yermo on federal land set aside for the U.S. Navy the Marine Corps Depot of Supplies at what was called the Nebo Base. It was intended as a storage site for supplies and equipment needed for Fleet Marine Forces in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. By the end of that war, the base had been enlarged multiple times over, and another 2,000 acres then earmarked for use by the U.S. Army, approximately seven miles east of the Nebo Main Base, were transferred to the authority of the Marine Corps in 1946. In 1954, Marine Corps Depot of Supplies Commanding General Roy Gulick transferred his headquarters from San Francisco to Yermo. The necessity of the base to the Marine Corps has intensified since, and it has grown in size, stature, capability and prestige.
In 1961, the importance of Marine Corps Logistics Base Yermo, which was identified as the Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, increased dramatically with the establishment of the Depot Maintenance Facility. In November 1978, the base was redesignated to its present title of Marine Corps Logistics Base to emphasize its broad logistics support mission. In the early 1980s, the headquarters for all Marine Corps logistics support operations was consolidated to the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Georgia, though Marine Corps logistics operations on the western half of the continent and in the Pacific remained centered in Yermo. The base at present now operates under the Marine Corps Logistics Command.
The fast-food restaurant chain Del Taco originated by by Ed Hackbarth and David Jameson was first established in Yermo on September 16, 1964 under the name “Casa Del Taco,” catering to motorists on their way to and returning from Las Vegas.
Yermo once had a State of California agriculture inspection station for traffic coming from Nevada heading southwest on Interstate 15 toward Los Angeles.
Interstate 15 opened in 1968, such that traffic traveling to and from Las Vegas bypassed Yermo. Consequently, over 80 percent of the local businesses failed.
While Yermo is served by the U.S. Postal Service under the ZIP Code 92398, its post office branch does not provide home or business mail delivery but rather offers post office boxes to customers.
Yermo’s form of local governance evolved into a community services district authorized by the County of San Bernardino. The community services district is governed by an elected five-member board of directors which meets monthly and oversees the community’s volunteer fire department, local street lighting, parks and the water system.
Faced with declining sales tax revenue from the area’s businesses and other reductions in subventions that were sustaining the Yermo Community Services District operations, on March 19, 2026, the district’s board of directors adopted a resolution to initiate the process for annexation of the Yermo Community Services District’s territory into the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District. The resolution included a request for a sphere of influence amendment for the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District, as well as requesting the San Bernardino County Local Agency Formation Commission to initiate the necessary proceedings for the reorganization to include annexation of the Yermo Community Services District’s territory into the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District and divestiture of Yermo Community Services District’s fire protection and emergency medical services functions. The San Bernardino County Fire Protection District is required to adopt a substantially similar resolution requesting the San Bernardino County Local Agency Formation Commission to initiate proceedings for the sphere of influence amendment, annexation, and divestiture. The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors serves as the board for the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District.
The board of supervisors, on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, acting as the governing body of the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District, adopted a resolution requesting the Local Agency Formation Commission for San Bernardino County to initiate proceedings for the sphere of influence amendment or service area expansion and a reorganization to include annexation of the Yermo Community Services District into the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District and divestiture of the fire protection and emergency medical services functions of the Yermo Community Services District, whereby the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District will assume responsibility for fire protection, rescue, and emergency medical services. Law enforcement in Yermo since the community’s inception has been handled by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
That resolution, together with Yermo Community Services District’s resolution, will serve as the formal request for the San Bernardino County Local Agency Formation Commission to engage in the necessary proceedings.
According to San Bernardino County Fire Chief Dan Munsey, “The community of Yermo currently faces significant challenges in sustaining reliable fire and emergency medical services due to limited financial resources, declining volunteer staffing availability, aging infrastructure, and increasing service demands along the Interstate 15 corridor. Annexation into the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District provides a sustainable, long-term solution that improves emergency response capabilities, stabilizes service delivery, enhances regional coordination, and supports future economic development within the community and surrounding desert region.”
An agreement addressing the transfer of a percentage of the Yermo Community Services District’s ad valorem property tax to the San Bernardino County Fire District for the provision of fire protection, rescue, and emergency medical services will be presented to the board of supervisors for approval at a later date.
If the San Bernardino County Local Agency Formation Commission ultimately approves the reorganization, the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District would assume all responsibility for the provision of fire protection, rescue, and emergency medical services to the community of Yermo. Following completion of the reorganization proceedings and execution of the property tax transfer, Yermo Community Services District will have no further service responsibility or funding obligations for fire protection, rescue, or emergency medical services within Yermo.
-Mark Gutglueck