In 2025, fire departments serving Newark responded to 3,262 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 60% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
15,095 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.1M cumulative property loss. 10 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,911 | — | |
| 2022 | 3,276 | +12.5% | |
| 2023 | 2,003 | -38.9% | |
| 2024 | 3,643 | +81.9% | |
| 2025 | 3,262 | -10.5% |
For the 109 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 1,996 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 | Undetermined | 644 | 32.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 260 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 149 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 139 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 94 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 87 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 60 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 54 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 45 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 43 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 421 | 21.1% |
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 | 1,290 | 64.6% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 237 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 123 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 75 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 53 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 32 | 1.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 29 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 29 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 22 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 18 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 88 | 4.4% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Newark sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
203 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 | 9 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 29 | |
| 30-39 | 50 | |
| 40-49 | 64 | |
| 50-59 | 31 | |
| 60-69 | 8 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 4 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,595 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 34.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 18.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 29.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 363 | 25.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 13.7 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 New Jersey 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.