In 2025, fire departments serving Little Silver responded to 44 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
209 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $10K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55 | — | |
| 2022 | 66 | +20.0% | |
| 2023* | 8 | — | |
| 2024 | 36 | — | |
| 2025 | 44 | +22.2% |
* Well below Little Silver'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 Little Silver departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | 8 | 25.8% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 19.4% | |
| 3 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 16.1% |
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 Little Silver mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 29.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Little Silver departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $250 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Little Silver sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 96,427 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 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 17,050 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 44.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 36.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 36.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 46.3 mi |
Top 2 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 Little Silver. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.