In 2025, fire departments serving Newark responded to 1,602 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 68% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
7,143 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $74K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,124 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,229 | +9.3% | |
| 2023 | 1,573 | +28.0% | |
| 2024 | 1,615 | +2.7% | |
| 2025 | 1,602 | -0.8% |
For the 495 building fires Newark departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,621 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 | 403 | 24.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 249 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 211 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 139 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 61 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 52 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 42 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 41 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 40 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 40 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 343 | 21.2% |
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 Newark mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 935 | 57.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 272 | 16.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 82 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 58 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 54 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 40 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 28 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 23 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 20 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 93 | 5.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Newark departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Newark sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
38 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 | 5 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 10 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 6 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,279 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,518 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 765 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 522 | 29.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 470 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 390 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 350 | 49.6 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Delaware cities with population within ±25% of Newark. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Newark.
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.