In 2025, fire departments serving Springfield responded to 218 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 54% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
953 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $526K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 120 | — | |
| 2022 | 220 | +83.3% | |
| 2023 | 179 | -18.6% | |
| 2024 | 216 | +20.7% | |
| 2025 | 218 | +0.9% |
For the 9 building fires Springfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 96 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 | 23 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 15 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 12 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Other | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 16.7% |
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 Springfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 65 | 67.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 4 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 7 | Match | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 4.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Springfield departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $33,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $19,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Springfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 20,498 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,300 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,240 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 34.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 536 | 47.9 mi |
Top 8 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 Springfield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Springfield.
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.