In 2025, fire departments serving Carlstadt responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $248K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
255 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $415K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 24 | — | |
| 2022 | 90 | — | |
| 2023 | 42 | -53.3% | |
| 2024 | 60 | +42.9% | |
| 2025 | 39 | -35.0% |
* Well below Carlstadt'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 Carlstadt departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 55 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 16.4% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 6 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Exterior, exposed surface | 5 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 4 | 7.3% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Office | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 18.2% |
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 Carlstadt mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 40 | 72.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 5.5% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 1.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Carlstadt departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $247,540 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $35,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $700 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Carlstadt sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,391 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 28.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 27.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 37.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 363 | 17.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 16.7 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 Carlstadt. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Carlstadt.
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.