In 2025, fire departments serving Annandale responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
104 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 26 | — | |
| 2023 | 15 | -42.3% | |
| 2024 | 36 | +140.0% | |
| 2025 | 16 | -55.6% |
* Well below Annandale's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 2 building fires Annandale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 11.1% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Annandale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 33.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Annandale departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Annandale sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 29,568 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,949 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 41.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 40.2 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 08801 | 104 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Annandale. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Annandale.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.