In 2025, fire departments serving Somerset responded to 338 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 63% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,159 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $100K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 185 | — | |
| 2022* | 92 | — | |
| 2023 | 164 | — | |
| 2024 | 380 | +131.7% | |
| 2025 | 338 | -11.1% |
* Well below Somerset'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 17 building fires Somerset departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 101 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 | 29 | 28.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 24 | 23.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 16.8% |
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 Somerset mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 87 | 86.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Somerset sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 55,294 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 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,277 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,012 | 44.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Somerset. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Somerset.
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.