In 2025, fire departments serving Maplewood responded to 225 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K 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 65% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
770 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $73K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 191 | — | |
| 2022 | 100 | -47.6% | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 252 | — | |
| 2025 | 225 | -10.7% |
* Well below Maplewood'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 6 building fires Maplewood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 47 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 | 7 | 14.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 12.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 17.0% |
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 Maplewood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 48.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Maplewood departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $4,598 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Maplewood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,024 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 31.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 34.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 17.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 30.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 38.8 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 | 07040 | 769 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Maplewood. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Maplewood.
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.