In 2025, fire departments serving Stafford responded to 157 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $355K 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 55% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
815 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $607K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 134 | — | |
| 2022 | 233 | +73.9% | |
| 2023 | 161 | -30.9% | |
| 2024 | 130 | -19.3% | |
| 2025 | 157 | +20.8% |
For the 4 building fires Stafford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 246 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 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 58 | 23.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 53 | 21.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 21 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 16 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Other | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 49 | 19.9% |
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 Stafford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 107 | 43.5% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 23 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Sunlight | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 32 | 13.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Stafford departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $355,340 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Stafford 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 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 108,514 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 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 17,050 | 2.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 11,765 | 8.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,638 | 10.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,284 | 9.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,832 | 8.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,577 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 3,477 | 21.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,900 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,730 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,450 | 23.3 mi |
Top 3 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 Stafford. 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.