In 2025, fire departments serving Roseland responded to 68 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 74% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
150 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $273K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024 | 59 | — | |
| 2025 | 68 | +15.3% |
* Well below Roseland'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 5 building fires Roseland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 42 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 | 15 | 35.7% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Office | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 23.8% |
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 Roseland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 40.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 7 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Roseland departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Roseland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,006 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 26.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 29.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 23.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 34.0 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 | 07068 | 150 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Roseland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Roseland.
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.