In 2025, fire departments serving North Cape May responded to 53 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
180 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | — | |
| 2022 | 27 | -6.9% | |
| 2023* | 19 | — | |
| 2024 | 52 | — | |
| 2025 | 53 | +1.9% |
* Well below North Cape May'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 North Cape May departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 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 | 6 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 17.9% | |
| 3 | Exterior, exposed surface | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 7.1% |
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 North Cape May mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 20 | 71.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Cape May sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,304 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Natural | 3,477 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 46.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,518 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,250 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 765 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 518 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 390 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 350 | 26.4 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 | 08204 | 180 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of North Cape May. 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.