In 2025, fire departments serving Forked River responded to 91 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
584 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $91K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 79 | — | |
| 2022 | 142 | +79.7% | |
| 2023* | 66 | — | |
| 2024 | 206 | — | |
| 2025 | 91 | -55.8% |
* Well below Forked River'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 Forked River departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 65 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 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 16 | 24.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 3 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 4.6% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 16.9% |
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 Forked River mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 47.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Sunlight | 5 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Match | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 4.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Forked River sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 108,514 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 | 9.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 17,050 | 10.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 14.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 6.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 3.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 3,477 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 28.6 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 Forked River. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Forked River.
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.