In 2025, fire departments serving Hewitt responded to 108 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 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
356 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 69 | — | |
| 2022 | 57 | -17.4% | |
| 2023* | 13 | — | |
| 2024 | 109 | — | |
| 2025 | 108 | -0.9% |
* Well below Hewitt'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 9 building fires Hewitt departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | 38.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Hewitt mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 69.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Match | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Sunlight | 1 | 7.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hewitt sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 27,597 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,949 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Smoking | 2,855 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 998 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 866 | 45.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 41.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 12.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 42.6 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 Hewitt. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hewitt.
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.