In 2025, fire departments serving Paramus responded to 69 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K 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 64% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
109 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $141K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 12 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023* | 12 | — | |
| 2024* | 12 | — | |
| 2025 | 69 | — |
* Well below Paramus'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 3 building fires Paramus departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 34 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 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 26.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 8 | 23.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 17.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 2.9% |
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 Paramus mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 64.7% | |
| 2 | Chemical reaction | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Paramus departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,105 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $9,200 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $7,840 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Paramus sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,681 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 19.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 34.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 388 | 49.4 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 Paramus. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Paramus.
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.