In 2025, fire departments serving Butler responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K 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 70% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
68 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $52K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 19 | — | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 22 | — | |
| 2025 | 20 | -9.1% |
* Well below Butler'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 Butler departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | 3 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Wall assembly | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 14.3% |
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 Butler mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 100.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Butler departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Butler sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 23,905 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 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 48.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 17.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 19.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 25.6 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 | 07405 | 68 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Butler. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.