In 2025, fire departments serving Dunellen responded to 75 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K 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 77% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
307 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $680K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 63 | — | |
| 2022* | 19 | — | |
| 2023 | 39 | — | |
| 2024 | 111 | +184.6% | |
| 2025 | 75 | -32.4% |
* Well below Dunellen'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 10 building fires Dunellen departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 7.7% |
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 Dunellen mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 46.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Candle | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dunellen departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dunellen sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 45,244 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 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,277 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Smoking | 702 | 43.7 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 Dunellen. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dunellen.
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.