In 2025, fire departments serving Lambertville responded to 87 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 63% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
518 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $375K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 97 | — | |
| 2022 | 138 | +42.3% | |
| 2023 | 91 | -34.1% | |
| 2024 | 105 | +15.4% | |
| 2025 | 87 | -17.1% |
For the 2 building fires Lambertville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 121 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 | Outside area, other | 40 | 33.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 36 | 29.8% | |
| 3 | Other | 6 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 15.7% |
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 Lambertville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 39 | 32.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 32 | 26.4% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 11 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 6 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Match | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 7.4% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lambertville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 71,194 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 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 49.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,950 | 44.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,900 | 48.7 mi |
Top 6 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 Lambertville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lambertville.
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.