In 2025, fire departments serving Lavallette responded to 39 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 64% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
162 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $786K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | — | |
| 2022 | 41 | +41.4% | |
| 2023* | 16 | — | |
| 2024 | 37 | — | |
| 2025 | 39 | +5.4% |
* Well below Lavallette'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 0 building fires Lavallette departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 30 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Structural area, other | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 6.7% |
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 Lavallette mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fireworks | 7 | 23.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 10.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lavallette sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 108,514 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 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 17,050 | 22.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 24.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 15.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 3,477 | 41.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 12.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 37.7 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 | 08735 | 162 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Lavallette. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lavallette.
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.