In 2025, fire departments serving Newton responded to 51 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K 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 65% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
324 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $30K cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 34 | — | |
| 2022 | 69 | — | |
| 2023* | 23 | — | |
| 2024 | 147 | — | |
| 2025 | 51 | -65.3% |
* Well below Newton'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 9 building fires Newton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 75 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 | 17 | 22.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 13 | 17.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 6 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Chute; laundry or mail, excluding trash chutes | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 21.3% |
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 Newton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 37 | 49.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 7 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Match | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 2.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Newton departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Newton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,629 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 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 30.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 18.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 674 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 35.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 19.6 mi |
Top 2 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 Newton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Newton.
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.