In 2025, fire departments serving Franklin Lakes responded to 22 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 100% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
178 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 38 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 106 | — | |
| 2025 | 22 | -79.2% |
* Well below Franklin Lakes'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 13 building fires Franklin Lakes 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 6 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 11.5% |
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 Franklin Lakes mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 73.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 3.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Franklin Lakes sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,669 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 46.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 12.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 15.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 15.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 26.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 07417 | 178 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Franklin Lakes. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Franklin Lakes.
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.