In 2025, fire departments serving Mendham responded to 63 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 76% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
221 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $23K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 25 | — | |
| 2022 | 35 | — | |
| 2023 | 38 | +8.6% | |
| 2024 | 60 | +57.9% | |
| 2025 | 63 | +5.0% |
* Well below Mendham'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 3 building fires Mendham departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 35 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 | 5 | 14.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 9 | Other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 14.3% |
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 Mendham mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 31.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 10 | 28.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Candle | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 2.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mendham sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,272 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,949 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 37.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 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 | 07945 | 219 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Mendham. 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.