In 2025, fire departments serving Oak Ridge responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
230 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 37 | — | |
| 2022* | 27 | — | |
| 2023 | 35 | — | |
| 2024 | 73 | +108.6% | |
| 2025 | 58 | -20.5% |
* Well below Oak Ridge'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 7 building fires Oak Ridge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 41 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 | 13 | 31.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 24.4% |
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 Oak Ridge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 24.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 22.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 19.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 12.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oak Ridge departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oak Ridge sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,255 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 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 43.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 31.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 22.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 40.0 mi |
Top 5 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 Oak Ridge. 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.