In 2025, fire departments serving Ocean County responded to 2,860 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $570K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips.
13,425 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,987 | |
| 2022 | 3,030 | |
| 2023 | 2,280 | |
| 2024 | 3,268 | |
| 2025 | 2,860 |
For the 255 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Ocean County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 82% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $570,000 | TOMS RIVER | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $493,952 | JACKSON | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $467,632 | Stafford Township | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $355,340 | STAFFORD | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $302,100 | JACKSON | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $194,015 | Stafford Township | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $166,365 | JACKSON | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $129,895 | Stafford Township | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $120,000 | Jackson | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $66,120 | Stafford Township | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 34029.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Lakewood | 133,875 | View › |
| Toms River | 95,997 | View › |
| Brick | 74,230 | View › |
| Jackson | 58,793 | View › |
| Manchester | 45,206 | View › |
| Berkeley | 43,846 | View › |
| Stafford | 28,917 | View › |
| Lacey | 28,879 | View › |
| Barnegat | 24,295 | View › |
| Little Egg Harbor | 20,901 | View › |
| Point Pleasant | 19,024 | View › |
| Ocean Acres | 18,229 | View › |
49 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.