ZIP 08540 recorded 408 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 1,452 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Mercer County, NJ. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
1,452 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 189 | |
| 2022 | 246 | |
| 2023 | 285 | |
| 2024 | 324 | |
| 2025 | 408 |
Jan peaks. Oct dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 08540 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 383 | 26.4% | |
| 2 | Building fires | 157 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | 112 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | 100 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Power line down | 94 | 6.5% |
For the 28 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 08540 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 47 | 19.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 33 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 25 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 16 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 14 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 14 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 63 | 26.5% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 104 | 43.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Sunlight | 12 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 11 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 41 | 17.2% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 08540 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 1674% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Major |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 4 | $275,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 5 | $85,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | 2024 | Significant |
| 6 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | 2025 | Significant |
| 7 | $30,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | 2024 | Significant |
| 8 | $6,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 08540.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Princeton | 1,014 | |
| 2 | West Windsor | 132 | |
| 3 | Lawrence | 47 | |
| 4 | Montgomery | 18 | |
| 5 | Franklin | 16 |
Some ZIPs span multiple counties. The primary above is the largest by population weight; secondary counties are below.
| County | State | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Middlesex County | NJ | 1.00 | FIPS 34023 |
| Somerset County | NJ | 1.00 | FIPS 34035 |
The figures above are historical. For today's air quality, fire-weather warnings, and active fires, go to the official sources.
NFIRS reports each fire incident with a 5-digit address ZIP. We aggregate those rows directly to produce ZIP-level totals — 1,452 incidents in this ZIP across 2021–2025. Building-fire breakdowns (Area of Origin, Heat Source, ignition cause) only count fires investigators classified beyond the basic incident report. Because NFIRS reporting is voluntary, totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.