In 2025, fire departments serving Wantage responded to 47 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
349 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $6 cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 81 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 99 | — | |
| 2024 | 111 | +12.1% | |
| 2025 | 47 | -57.7% |
* Well below Wantage'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 2 building fires Wantage departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 155 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 | Outside area, other | 40 | 25.8% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 35 | 22.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 32 | 20.6% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Other | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 13 | 8.4% |
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 Wantage mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 126 | 81.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 5.8% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 6 | Match | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 0.6% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 0.6% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 1 | 0.6% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 0.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wantage departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wantage sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 29,874 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 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Smoking | 2,855 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,265 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 998 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 995 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 866 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 812 | 36.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 750 | 29.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 647 | 31.3 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 Wantage. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wantage.
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.