In 2025, fire departments serving Budd Lake responded to 82 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 76% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
464 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $291K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 47 | — | |
| 2022 | 89 | — | |
| 2023 | 107 | +20.2% | |
| 2024 | 139 | +29.9% | |
| 2025 | 82 | -41.0% |
* Well below Budd Lake'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 11 building fires Budd Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 149 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 17.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 15 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 7 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 31 | 20.8% |
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 Budd Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Match | 24 | 16.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 11 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 10 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 7 | 4.7% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 17.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Budd Lake departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Power line down | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Budd Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,272 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 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 39.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 38.1 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 Budd Lake. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Budd Lake.
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.