In 2025, fire departments serving Princeton responded to 246 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,730 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $6.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 293 | — | |
| 2022 | 348 | +18.8% | |
| 2023 | 384 | +10.3% | |
| 2024 | 459 | +19.5% | |
| 2025 | 246 | -46.4% |
For the 50 building fires Princeton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 532 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 | 147 | 27.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 55 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 27 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 27 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 26 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 23 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 20 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 19 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Other | 14 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 13 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 161 | 30.3% |
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 Princeton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 312 | 58.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 38 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 37 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 22 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 21 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 11 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 9 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 41 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Princeton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 80% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $95,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $68,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Princeton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 52,428 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,832 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,850 | 37.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,484 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 3,358 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 3,186 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,859 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,533 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 2,063 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 1,940 | 47.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,825 | 47.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Fireworks | 1,666 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,619 | 43.4 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six West Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Princeton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Princeton.
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.