In 2025, fire departments serving Sewaren responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
98 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 24 | +50.0% | |
| 2023 | 18 | -25.0% | |
| 2024 | 26 | +44.4% | |
| 2025 | 14 | -46.2% |
For the 1 building fires Sewaren departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | Undetermined | 9 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Construction/renovation area | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Sewaren mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 83.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sewaren sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
8 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 54,499 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 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,277 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,012 | 48.6 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 Sewaren. 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.