In 2025, fire departments serving East Rutherford responded to 55 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $70K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
375 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $105K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 137 | — | |
| 2022 | 58 | -57.7% | |
| 2023* | 28 | — | |
| 2024 | 97 | — | |
| 2025 | 55 | -43.3% |
* Well below East Rutherford'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 East Rutherford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 84 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 | 14 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 14 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 21.4% |
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 East Rutherford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 49 | 58.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 8 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Candle | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by East Rutherford departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $70,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. East Rutherford sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,573 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 24.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 28.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 26.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 36.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 363 | 17.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 15.5 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 East Rutherford. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in East Rutherford.
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.