In 2025, fire departments serving Pittsgrove responded to 81 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $45K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
314 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $241K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 51 | — | |
| 2023 | 61 | +19.6% | |
| 2024 | 108 | +77.0% | |
| 2025 | 81 | -25.0% |
* Well below Pittsgrove'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 12 building fires Pittsgrove departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 33 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 24.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 21.2% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 9.1% |
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 Pittsgrove mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 42.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pittsgrove departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pittsgrove sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 86,753 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 17,050 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 39.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 3,477 | 41.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 14.8 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 | 08318 | 314 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Pittsgrove. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pittsgrove.
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.