In 2025, fire departments serving High Bridge responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50 building blaze. 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 65% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
215 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $284K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 49 | — | |
| 2023 | 37 | -24.5% | |
| 2024 | 84 | +127.0% | |
| 2025 | 29 | -65.5% |
* Well below High Bridge'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 2 building fires High Bridge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 35 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 | 18 | 51.4% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 2.9% |
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 High Bridge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 85.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by High Bridge departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. High Bridge sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,118 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 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 40.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 38.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 43.8 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 | 08829 | 215 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of High Bridge. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in High Bridge.
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.