In 2025, fire departments serving Red Bank responded to 70 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $240K 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.
May peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
312 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $271K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 53 | — | |
| 2022* | 26 | — | |
| 2023* | 32 | — | |
| 2024 | 131 | — | |
| 2025 | 70 | -46.6% |
* Well below Red Bank'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 Red Bank departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 64 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 | 21 | 32.8% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Assembly or sales area, other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 23.4% |
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 Red Bank mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 20 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 9 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 5 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 10.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Red Bank departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $240,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Red Bank sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 96,427 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 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 17,050 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 44.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 46.4 mi |
Top 3 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 Red Bank. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Red Bank.
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.