In 2025, fire departments serving Wallington responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
168 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 45 | — | |
| 2022 | 70 | +55.6% | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024 | 24 | — | |
| 2025 | 29 | +20.8% |
* Well below Wallington'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 3 building fires Wallington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 58 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 31 | 53.4% | |
| 2 | Other | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 3 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 10.3% |
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 Wallington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 20 | 34.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 11 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 5 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 5.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wallington sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,802 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 25.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 27.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 38.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 28.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 374 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 363 | 16.3 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 Wallington. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wallington.
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.