In 2025, fire departments serving Maple Shade responded to 120 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. 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 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
586 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $975K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 90 | — | |
| 2022 | 160 | +77.8% | |
| 2023 | 95 | -40.6% | |
| 2024 | 121 | +27.4% | |
| 2025 | 120 | -0.8% |
For the 16 building fires Maple Shade departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 68 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 | 19 | 27.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 5 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 11.8% |
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 Maple Shade mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 43 | 63.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Maple Shade departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $116,100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Maple Shade sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 109,567 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 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 17,050 | 40.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 31.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 37.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 3,477 | 49.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 22.4 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 Maple Shade. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Maple Shade.
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.