In 2025, fire departments serving Stewartsville responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $12K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
121 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $901K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 30 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | -40.0% | |
| 2024 | 53 | +194.4% | |
| 2025 | 16 | -69.8% |
* Well below Stewartsville'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 Stewartsville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | 5 | 16.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Wall assembly | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 22.6% |
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 Stewartsville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 32.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Stewartsville departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $12,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Stewartsville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,430 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,949 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 848 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 34.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 741 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 674 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 33.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 615 | 39.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 38.5 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 Stewartsville. 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.