In 2025, fire departments serving Marlboro responded to 173 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
305 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $565K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023* | 24 | — | |
| 2024 | 98 | — | |
| 2025 | 173 | +76.5% |
* Well below Marlboro'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 32 building fires Marlboro departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 45 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 | 7 | 15.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 8.9% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 22.2% |
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 Marlboro mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 51.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Candle | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Marlboro departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,500 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $999 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $250 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Marlboro sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 100,984 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 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 17,050 | 44.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 34.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 26.5 mi |
Top 5 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 Marlboro. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Marlboro.
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.