In 2025, fire departments serving Pine Brook responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 75% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
119 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $505K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 35 | — | |
| 2022 | 38 | +8.6% | |
| 2023* | 10 | — | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 36 | — |
* Well below Pine Brook'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 2 building fires Pine Brook departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Pine Brook mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 76.5% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pine Brook departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pine Brook sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,758 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 | 49.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 40.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 24.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 26.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 40.1 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 | 07058 | 119 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Pine Brook. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pine Brook.
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.