In 2025, fire departments serving Cape May Court House responded to 150 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
414 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 36 | — | |
| 2023 | 85 | — | |
| 2024 | 132 | +55.3% | |
| 2025 | 150 | +13.6% |
* Well below Cape May Court House'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 7 building fires Cape May Court House departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 53 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 | Outside area, other | 14 | 26.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 26.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 13.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 5 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 9.4% |
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 Cape May Court House mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 39 | 73.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 5.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 1.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cape May Court House departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Outside equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cape May Court House sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 43,534 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 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 3,477 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 39.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,950 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,900 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,518 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,250 | 28.6 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 | 08210 | 414 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Cape May Court House. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cape May Court House.
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.