In 2025, fire departments serving Clinton responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 54% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
319 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 37 | — | |
| 2022 | 76 | — | |
| 2023 | 50 | -34.2% | |
| 2024 | 108 | +116.0% | |
| 2025 | 48 | -55.6% |
* Well below Clinton'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 6 building fires Clinton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 30 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 | 12 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 10.0% |
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 Clinton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 70.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Sunlight | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Match | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 3.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clinton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 30,854 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 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 28.4 mi |
Top 5 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 Clinton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Clinton.
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.