In 2025, fire departments serving Wildwood Crest responded to 75 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 93% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
239 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $87K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022 | 73 | — | |
| 2023* | 22 | — | |
| 2024 | 68 | — | |
| 2025 | 75 | +10.3% |
* Well below Wildwood Crest'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 6 building fires Wildwood Crest departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | Undetermined | 8 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 9.1% |
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 Wildwood Crest mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Candle | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wildwood Crest departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wildwood Crest sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,763 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Natural | 3,477 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,107 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 35.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,900 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,535 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,518 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,250 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 765 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 677 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 660 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 43.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 35.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 08260 | 239 |
Six New Jersey cities with population within ±25% of Wildwood Crest. 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.