In 2025, fire departments serving Randolph responded to 228 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
843 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $53K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 85 | — | |
| 2022 | 139 | — | |
| 2023 | 143 | +2.9% | |
| 2024 | 248 | +73.4% | |
| 2025 | 228 | -8.1% |
* Well below Randolph'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 4 building fires Randolph departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 129 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 | 31 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 14 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 33 | 25.6% |
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 Randolph mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 50 | 38.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 8 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 7 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 7 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 9.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Randolph departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Randolph sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,960 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 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 44.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 28.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 33.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 35.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 25.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Randolph. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Randolph.
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.