In 2025, fire departments serving Fairfield responded to 113 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 72% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
312 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $105K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 44 | — | |
| 2023* | 14 | — | |
| 2024 | 130 | — | |
| 2025 | 113 | -13.1% |
* Well below Fairfield'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 Fairfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 76 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 | 43 | 56.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 7 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Equipment or service area, other | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 5.3% |
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 Fairfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 60 | 78.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 6.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Pipe or cigar | 1 | 1.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fairfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,297 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 42.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 22.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 25.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 27.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 30.2 mi |
Top 4 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 Fairfield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fairfield.
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.