In 2025, fire departments across New Jersey responded to 67,861 fire and hazmat incidents — including the NJGSR-FY19-RX-Pool 3b wildfire that burned 83 acres in 2019.
New Jersey ranks #56 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 53% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Jan peaks across the window; Sep dips.
294,384 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 42,960 | |
| 2022 | 55,348 | |
| 2023 | 47,334 | |
| 2024 | 80,881 | |
| 2025 | 67,861 |
For the 6,000 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 21,202 | 5,561 / 15,641 | 53,516 | |
| 2 | Arson / incendiarism | 11,649 | 9,257 / 2,392 | 76,900 | |
| 3 | Equipment & vehicle use | 7,510 | 3,563 / 3,947 | 14,802 | |
| 4 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 4,799 | 4,799 / 0 | 2,970 | |
| 5 | Smoking | 2,566 | 2,566 / 0 | 3,144 | |
| 6 | Recreation & ceremony | 1,875 | 1,875 / 0 | 5,124 | |
| 7 | Natural (lightning) | 1,482 | 256 / 1,226 | 9,550 | |
| 8 | Other causes | 1,449 | 1,178 / 271 | 594 | |
| 9 | Debris & open burning | 1,231 | 1,231 / 0 | 1,609 | |
| 10 | Railroad operations | 964 | 964 / 0 | 1,318 | |
| 11 | Power generation / utility | 674 | 674 / 0 | 473 | |
| 12 | Fireworks | 294 | 294 / 0 | 301 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leaks | 89,752 | $188K | 0 | |
| 2 | Building fires | 60,853 | $967.8M | 103 | |
| 3 | Electrical / wiring | 59,432 | $379K | 0 | |
| 4 | Outdoor fires | 30,119 | $1.0M | 1 | |
| 5 | Cooking-related | 26,063 | $387K | 0 | |
| 6 | Wildland fires | 16,852 | $690K | 1 | |
| 7 | Vehicle fires | 11,889 | $38.7M | 30 | |
| 8 | Rubbish / refuse | 9,964 | $548K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 3,520 | $30.9M | 2 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 28% of New Jersey's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $13,347,770 | Lakewood | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $6,397,893 | Dover | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 3 | $3,990,000 | Elmer | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $2,500,000 | Port Norris | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $2,344,320 | FREEHOLD TWP | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $2,230,000 | CHERRY HILL | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $1,700,000 | Morristown | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $1,500,000 | BURLEIGH | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $1,250,000 | Lakewood | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $1,221,250 | Lakewood | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare New Jersey apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Essex County | 4,591 | 911,009 |
| 2 | Camden County | 4,095 | 682,569 |
| 3 | Passaic County | 3,465 | 568,576 |
| 4 | Monmouth County | 3,384 | 727,207 |
| 5 | Middlesex County | 3,268 | 1,041,636 |
| 6 | Atlantic County | 3,175 | 304,095 |
| 7 | Union County | 3,146 | 579,225 |
| 8 | Ocean County | 2,860 | 740,959 |
| 9 | Mercer County | 2,830 | 429,762 |
| 10 | Morris County | 2,748 | 630,260 |
Top 10 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hunterdon County | 13.24 | 1,609 | 121,510 | |
| 2 | Salem County | 12.21 | 832 | 68,154 | |
| 3 | Cape May County | 11.78 | 1,616 | 137,191 | |
| 4 | Atlantic County | 10.44 | 3,175 | 304,095 | |
| 5 | Gloucester County | 9.15 | 2,590 | 283,149 | |
| 6 | Warren County | 8.85 | 942 | 106,384 | |
| 7 | Cumberland County | 7.89 | 1,293 | 163,947 | |
| 8 | Mercer County | 6.59 | 2,830 | 429,762 | |
| 9 | Passaic County | 6.09 | 3,465 | 568,576 | |
| 10 | Camden County | 6.00 | 4,095 | 682,569 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | 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 |
6 perimeters and 89 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 2 | 88 | |
| 2020s | 4 | 1 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 10,531 | |
| 2000s | 11,470 | |
| 2010s | 9,229 | |
| 2020s | 1,021 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 32,251 ignitions total.
1,699 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 56 | |
| 10-19 | 54 | |
| 20-29 | 250 | |
| 30-39 | 410 | |
| 40-49 | 300 | |
| 50-59 | 251 | |
| 60-69 | 114 | |
| 70-79 | 64 | |
| 80+ | 47 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.