In 2025, fire departments serving Dorothy responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 100% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
50 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $88K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 10 | — | |
| 2023 | 17 | +70.0% | |
| 2024 | 8 | -52.9% | |
| 2025 | 15 | +87.5% |
* Well below Dorothy'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 Dorothy departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 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 | 6 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 6.2% |
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 Dorothy mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dorothy departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dorothy sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 110,555 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 19,225 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 17,050 | 34.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 32.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 41.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 3,477 | 24.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 22.8 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 | 08317 | 50 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Dorothy. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dorothy.
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.