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2025 County Report

Fires in Bergen County, NJ

In 2025, fire departments serving Bergen County responded to 748 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $510K property loss.

946,218 residents FIPS 34003 85 cities · 49 fire depts
Total incidents
748
3,786 across 5 years
Building fires
51
39 wildland
Property loss
$1.7M
$1.4M structure · $293K contents
Casualties
2 / 6
2 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.

748
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 192 25.7%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 69 9.2%
Building fires 51 6.8%
Carbon monoxide incident 49 6.6%
Power line down 49 6.6%
All other categories 338 45.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Bergen County?

Jul peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 74
Feb 43
Mar 57
Apr 55
May 66
Jun 70
Jul 91
Aug 45
Sep 67
Oct 69
Nov 55
Dec 56
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Bergen County

3,786 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 700
2022 746
2023 569
2024 1,023
2025 748
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 51 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
44%
44
Cause undetermined
32%
32
Intentional / arson
1%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
16%
16
Under investigation
4%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Bergen County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 93% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $510,478 PARAMUS BORO Building fires Major
2 $266,000 Moonachie Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Major
3 $150,000 Mahwah Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 Ridgewood Building or structure weakened or collapsed Significant
5 $50,000 Mahwah Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Ridgewood Building fires Significant
7 $30,000 PARAMUS Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $25,105 PARAMUS Building fires Significant
9 $25,000 Ridgewood Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $20,000 Paramus Building fires Significant
06 How Bergen County compares

Bergen County vs NJ vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

0.79
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bergen County
0.79
NJ avg
6.57
US avg
7.15
0.05
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bergen County
0.05
NJ avg
0.58
US avg
0.82
2.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bergen County
2.1
NJ avg
2.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Bergen County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 34003.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Bergen County

49 departments report from this county.

RIDGEWOOD FIRE HEADQUARTERS
RIDGEWOOD
FDID 02510 305 incidents 40 paid 11 vol
Garfield Fire Department
Garfield
FDID 02210 221 incidents 110 vol
Meadowlands Fire Department
East Rutherford
FDID 02900 189 incidents 22 paid
Fair Lawn Fire Department
Fair Lawn
FDID 02170 111 incidents 125 vol
Dumont Fire Department
Dumont
FDID 02100 106 incidents 80 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in NJ

Top 6 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 NJGSR-FY19-RX-Pool 3b 2019 FWS 83
2 NJWKR-FY19-RX-Kenely Unit D 2019 FWS 4
3 Game Farm 2024 FWS 1
4 NJGSR-FY20-WF-Orange Trail WF 2020 FWS 0
5 NJWKR-FY20-WF-Papakating Creek WF 2020 FWS 0
6 Water Works 2023 FWS 0

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.