In 2025, fire departments serving Raritan responded to 59 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 63% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
339 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $483K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 77 | — | |
| 2022* | 39 | — | |
| 2023 | 79 | — | |
| 2024 | 85 | +7.6% | |
| 2025 | 59 | -30.6% |
* Well below Raritan'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 9 building fires Raritan departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 85 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 | Outside area, other | 26 | 30.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 14 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 5 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Closet | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 14.1% |
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 Raritan mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 55 | 64.7% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 10 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 8 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 2.4% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Raritan sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,928 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,012 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,000 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 36.1 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 Raritan. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Raritan.
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.