In 2025, fire departments serving Ridgewood responded to 306 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 70% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,313 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 177 | — | |
| 2022 | 263 | +48.6% | |
| 2023 | 307 | +16.7% | |
| 2024 | 260 | -15.3% | |
| 2025 | 306 | +17.7% |
For the 5 building fires Ridgewood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 104 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 13.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 14 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 27 | 26.0% |
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 Ridgewood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 50 | 48.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 13 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 9.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ridgewood departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ridgewood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,519 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 17.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 19.9 mi |
Top 2 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 Ridgewood. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ridgewood.
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.