ZIP 08840 recorded 17 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 186 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Middlesex County, NJ. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
186 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47 | |
| 2022 | 44 | |
| 2023 | 66 | |
| 2024 | 12 | |
| 2025 | 17 |
Feb peaks. Oct dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 08840 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Power line down | 55 | 29.6% | |
| 2 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | 20 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 18 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Building fires | 14 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | 13 | 7.0% |
For the 2 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 08840 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 16 | 38.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 21.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 8 | 19.0% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 52.4% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 5 | 11.9% |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 08840.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Metuchen | 184 |
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 — 186 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.