In 2025, fire departments serving Bridgeton responded to 405 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,831 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $58K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 282 | — | |
| 2022 | 286 | +1.4% | |
| 2023 | 345 | +20.6% | |
| 2024 | 513 | +48.7% | |
| 2025 | 405 | -21.1% |
For the 103 building fires Bridgeton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 577 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 | 144 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 101 | 17.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 90 | 15.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 43 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 21 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 16 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 15 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Other | 12 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 93 | 16.1% |
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 Bridgeton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 408 | 70.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 64 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 3.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 1.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 10 | 1.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 1.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 9 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 5 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 22 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bridgeton departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bridgeton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 58,818 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 3,477 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 23.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,950 | 32.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,900 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 37.8 mi |
Top 3 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 Bridgeton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bridgeton.
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.