In 2025, fire departments serving Kendall Park responded to 70 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 79% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
284 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023 | 110 | — | |
| 2024 | 101 | -8.2% | |
| 2025 | 70 | -30.7% |
* Well below Kendall Park'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 Kendall Park 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 | 13 | 37.1% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 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 Kendall Park mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 29 | 82.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Candle | 1 | 2.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kendall Park sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 73,659 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 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 44.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 41.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,950 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 48.4 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 | 08824 | 284 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Kendall Park. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kendall Park.
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.