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Fontana, California

39 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1982. It stands in the San Bernardino census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92335. The Survey maps it on the Fontana quadrangle. 208,393 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,237 feet above sea level.

Fontana within San Bernardino County

Then and now

1896 to 1982

The same ground, surveyed 86 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Fontana, surveyed 1982
Topographic sheet of Fontana, surveyed 1896

Compare 1896 against another survey:

On record in Fontana

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Fontana grew from 196,069 to 208,393 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010196,069
2020208,393+12,324 (+6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

17 surveys from 39 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

454 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 454 fires within 5 miles of Fontana between 1992 and 2020, burning about 24,603 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 65 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined279
Arson/incendiarism65
Equipment and vehicle use62
Smoking20
Misuse of fire by a minor16
Debris and open burning6
Recreation and ceremony3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2020Smokingunder an acreSan Bernardino Unitnot named
7 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined1,007 acresSan Bernardino National ForestRUNWAY
6 September 2020Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresSan Bernardino Unitnot named
6 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
6 September 1998Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresSan Bernardino UnitBLAKE
30 September 2009Smokingunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
30 September 1996Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.5 acresRiverside UnitSERRIA FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in San Bernardino County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 12 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Fontana: 10 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Marble, Dimension. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Jensen's QuarryMarble, DimensionPast Producer
Jensens QuarryMarble, DimensionProducerMetamorphic
Declezville GranuliteStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Raney Borrow PitStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Stringfellow QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Bloomington PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Colton Pit and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Fontana PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Lytle Creek PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
San Bernardino PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in San Bernardino County

Storms near this place

23 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Fontana in 23 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 5 flood, 5 wildfire, 4 heavy rain, 3 lightning. The reports record 1 death and 38 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2009LightningFontana1 killed, $1,000A was 40 year old female was struck and killed by lightning around 1530 PST while she was standing under a tree along the 8600 block of Bennett Avenue in Fontana. Some concrete nearby may have also been damaged due to the strike.||Six men were leaning against a metal fence near Electric Avenue and 40th Street in San Bernardino when lightning struck nearby. All six appeared to have suffered electrical burns. Four of the six were administered medical treatment by firefighters as a precaution.
October 2003WildfireFontana35 hurt, $50,000,000no account filed
February 2003FloodFontana2 hurt, $300,000no account filed
October 2010LightningFontana1 hurtA construction worker suffered minor burns when lightning struck a nearby crane at the Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center at 0842 PST on October 1. The 50-year old man was thrown to the ground as a result of the strike. His injuries are non-life-threatening.
October 2004Flash FloodFontana$1,000,000Widespread flooding occured in the vicinity of Interstate 10 and Etiwanda Ave. Vehciles caught in the flood waters reportedly floated away and minor flooding damaged homes along Etiwanda Ave. Nearby, the San Sevaine flood-control channel overflowed and washed out some railroad tracks, resulting in the derailment of three cars of a Union Pacific freight train. The derailment and flooding forced the shutdown of two gas pipelines that supply jet fuel from Southern California to Phoenix and Las Vegas.
February 2003Heavy RainFontana$100,000no account filed
January 2010Heavy RainFontana$75,000Heavy rain caused minor flooding in areas with poor drainage in Fontana and Redlands. In Fontana, a home was filled with several inches of water after sandbags surrounding the home failed. In Redlands, a clogged drain caused an apartment parking lot to flood, damaging several cars.
October 2012Heavy RainFontana$50,000A warehouse roof collapsed on the 11000 block of Mulberry Avenue in Fontana due to accumulation of over 1 foot of water. Drains were plugged allowing the water to accumulate. An alert gauge approximately 2 miles north of the location reported 1.02 inches of rain in 25 minutes between 1545 and 1610 PST.
July 2001LightningFontana$25,000no account filed
March 2005Tornado (F0)Fontana$20,000A brief tornado touched down in Fontana on Elm Street and blew roof shingles off three homes, ripped the roof off a water well building, felled several trees, and brought down powerlines. The tornado was accompanied by pea and marble-sized hail.
December 2004Flash FloodFontana$10,000Flash Flooding closed Etiwanda Ave.
January 2005Flash FloodFontana$5,000no account filed
November 2025FloodSouth Fontana-Dept of Highways reported number 1 lane of eastbound I-10 flooded east of Etiwanda Avenue. Nearby rain gauges reported around 0.25 inch between midnight and 1 am.
February 2023Debris FlowFontana-The Department of Highways reported flooding and mud along the Duncan Canyon Road offramp, with two vehicles stopped and on vehicle in two feet of mud.
March 2023FloodSouth Fontana-Report from CalTrans: #3 and #5 lanes on I-10 East at Cherry Ave Exit were flooded due to heavy rainfall.
December 2021Heavy RainFontana-Mesonet RLOC1 Rialto reports 3.9 inches of rainfall in the past 24 hours.
December 2011Funnel CloudFontana-Two funnel clouds estimated 10 miles to the north of the spotter, who is located in Riverside near Jarupa Avenue and Grand Avenue.
December 2002FloodFontana-no account filed
February 2002WildfireFontana-no account filed
January 2001WildfireFontana-no account filed
October 2001WildfireFontana-no account filed
July 2001WildfireFontana-no account filed
October 1998FloodFontana-no account filed

Every storm recorded in San Bernardino County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Ailsa (historical)1.8 miles39
San Sevaine (historical)2.4 miles39
Bloomington2.6 miles39
Walnut Ridge2.9 miles41
Kaiser2.9 miles39
Declez3.2 miles39
South Fontana3.5 miles39
La Cuesta Fontana3.5 miles41

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on FontanaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q491128The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1652711. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.