In 2025, fire departments serving Kenilworth responded to 50 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
222 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $985K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47 | — | |
| 2022 | 53 | +12.8% | |
| 2023* | 12 | — | |
| 2024 | 60 | — | |
| 2025 | 50 | -16.7% |
* Well below Kenilworth'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 Kenilworth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 29 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 | 10 | 34.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 17.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Closet | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 3.4% |
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 Kenilworth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 79.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 4 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kenilworth departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kenilworth sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 23,206 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 48.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Smoking | 702 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 35.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 48.7 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 | 07033 | 222 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Kenilworth. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kenilworth.
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.