In 2025, fire departments serving Piscataway responded to 148 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $499K 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 57% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
560 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 93 | — | |
| 2022 | 121 | +30.1% | |
| 2023* | 43 | — | |
| 2024 | 155 | — | |
| 2025 | 148 | -4.5% |
* Well below Piscataway'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 8 building fires Piscataway departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 98 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 | Undetermined | 40 | 40.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 22 | 22.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Other | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 11.2% |
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 Piscataway mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 80 | 81.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 8 | Incendiary device | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 9 | Pipe or cigar | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Candle | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 6.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Piscataway departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $499,000 | Fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Piscataway sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 51,188 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 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,277 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,012 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,000 | 48.4 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 Piscataway. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Piscataway.
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.