In 2025, fire departments serving Blairstown responded to 73 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
228 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $202K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 25 | — | |
| 2022 | 37 | — | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 87 | — | |
| 2025 | 73 | -16.1% |
* Well below Blairstown'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 5 building fires Blairstown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 38 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 | Undetermined | 23 | 60.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 2.6% |
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 Blairstown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 73.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Lightning | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Blairstown departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Blairstown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 24,022 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 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,126 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 20.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 5.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 674 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 48.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 6.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 21.9 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Blairstown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Blairstown.
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.