In 2025, fire departments serving North Plainfield responded to 262 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. 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 63% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
915 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $6.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 130 | — | |
| 2022 | 202 | +55.4% | |
| 2023 | 144 | -28.7% | |
| 2024 | 177 | +22.9% | |
| 2025 | 262 | +48.0% |
For the 21 building fires North Plainfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 132 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 | 22 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 16 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 13 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 9 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 35 | 26.5% |
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 Plainfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 65 | 49.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 6.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 7 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by North Plainfield departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $450,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Plainfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 42,546 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 19,225 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,277 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 41.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Smoking | 702 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 42.0 mi |
Top 6 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 North Plainfield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in North Plainfield.
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.