In 2025, fire departments serving Riverdale responded to 49 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
73 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | +0.0% | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024* | 1 | — | |
| 2025 | 49 | — |
* Well below Riverdale'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 6 building fires Riverdale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 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 | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 7 | Office | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 8.7% |
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 Riverdale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 21.7% | |
| 3 | Chemical reaction | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Riverdale sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 23,905 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 | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 16.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 18.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 27.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 07457 | 73 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Riverdale. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.