In 2025, fire departments serving Morristown responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 88% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
57 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 13 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | -15.4% | |
| 2024 | 17 | +54.5% | |
| 2025 | 16 | -5.9% |
* Well below Morristown'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 1 building fires Morristown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 6 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 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Function area, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Wall assembly | 1 | 16.7% |
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 Morristown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 16.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Morristown sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 19 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 723 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 76 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 68 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 66 | 13.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 36 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 35 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 29 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 23 | 32.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Smoking | 21 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Smoking | 20 | 40.5 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 | 13664 | 57 |
Six New York cities with population within ±25% of Morristown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Morristown.
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.