In 2025, fire departments serving Glen Ridge responded to 37 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 73% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
133 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $150K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 15 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024 | 72 | — | |
| 2025 | 37 | -48.6% |
* Well below Glen Ridge'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 0 building fires Glen Ridge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Wall assembly | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Glen Ridge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 64.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Sunlight | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Glen Ridge sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,108 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 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 26.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 29.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 22.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 35.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 33.0 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 Glen Ridge. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.