In 2025, fire departments serving Ringwood responded to 104 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 79% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
354 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51 | — | |
| 2022* | 18 | — | |
| 2023 | 85 | — | |
| 2024 | 96 | +12.9% | |
| 2025 | 104 | +8.3% |
* Well below Ringwood'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 Ringwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 61 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 | Other | 29 | 47.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 20 | 32.8% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 1.6% |
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 Ringwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 57 | 93.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 4.9% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 1.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ringwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 27,597 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 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Smoking | 2,855 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 998 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 866 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 43.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 10.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 44.7 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 Ringwood. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ringwood.
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.