In 2025, fire departments serving Fords responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 90% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
42 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $9K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 7 | -12.5% | |
| 2024 | 14 | +100.0% | |
| 2025 | 10 | -28.6% |
* Well below Fords'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 4 building fires Fords departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3 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 | Other | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 33.3% |
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 Fords mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 1 | 33.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fords sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 55,099 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 | 43.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 48.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,277 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,012 | 47.0 mi |
Top 3 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 Fords. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fords.
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.