In 2025, fire departments serving Essex County responded to 4,591 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips.
23,841 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4,666 | |
| 2022 | 4,923 | |
| 2023 | 3,124 | |
| 2024 | 6,537 | |
| 2025 | 4,591 |
For the 254 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Essex County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 92% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Bloomfield | Building fires | Significant |
| 2 | $200,000 | Bloomfield | Building fires | Significant |
| 3 | $42,000 | Bloomfield | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 4 | $40,000 | MILLBURN | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 5 | $30,000 | Bloomfield | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 6 | $30,000 | Bloomfield | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $20,000 | Belleville | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 8 | $15,000 | Bloomfield | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 9 | $15,000 | Bloomfield | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 10 | $10,000 | Bloomfield | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 34013.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Newark | 307,355 | View › |
| East Orange | 68,879 | View › |
| Irvington | 60,268 | View › |
| Bloomfield | 52,638 | View › |
| West Orange | 48,399 | View › |
| Montclair | 39,783 | View › |
| Belleville | 37,787 | View › |
| City of Orange | 33,922 | View › |
| Livingston | 31,091 | View › |
| Nutley | 29,823 | View › |
| Maplewood | 25,384 | View › |
| Millburn | 21,699 | View › |
8 departments report from this county.
Top 6 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.