FIREFIREFIREFIRE ININININ NEWNEWNEWNEW JERSEYJERSEYJERSEYJERSEY 20082008 Division of Fire Safety State of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs DEDICATION We honor the firefighters who selflessly gave their lives to protect the citizens of their communities. Raymond Barrett apshawa volunteer fire company dennis mcclenahan princeton junction fire company FIRE IN NEW JERSEY 2008 DIVISION OF FIRE SAFETY Lawrence Petrillo, Director/State Fire Marshal PREPARED BY: Heather Puskar, Supervisor Fire Incident Reporting Unit New Jersey Division of Fire Safety P.O. Box 809 Trenton, New Jersey 08625 (609) 324-7715 CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES FOR 100% PARTICIPATION CAMDEN CAPE MAY CUMBERLAND HUDSON HUNTERDON MERCER PASSAIC SALEM 4 www.nj.gov/dca/dfs 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 6 REPORT CONTENTS 7 NFIRS CONTACT INFORMATION 8 FAST STATS 9 FIREFIGHTER LINE-OF-DUTY DEATHS AND INJURIES 10 FIRE DEPARTMENT RESPONSES 15 RESPONSES BY COUNTY 17 FREQUENCY OF FIRE INCIDENTS BY MONTH 60 FIRE INCIDENTS 72 STRUCTURE FIRES BY PROPERTY TYPE 73 STRUCTURE FIRES BY MONTH 74 STRUCTURE FIRES BY DAY OF WEEK 74 CAUSE OF IGNITION 75 FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO IGNITION 78 FIRE SUPPRESSION FACTORS 78 EQUIPMENT INVOLVED IN IGNITION 81 HEAT SOURCES OF RESIDENTIAL FIRES 83 AREA OF FIRE ORIGIN 87 DETECTOR PRESENCE & PERFORMANCE 94 AUTOMATIC EXTINGUISHMENT SYSTEM PRESENCE & PERFORMANCE 99 CIVILIAN FIRE FATALITIES 103 CIVILIAN FIRE INJURIES 109 SCHOOL FIRES 111 VEHICLE FIRES 118 WILDLAND FIRES 121 HAZARDOUS MATERIALS RELEASES 124 SPECIAL STUDIES 127 INVESTIGATION UNIT STATISTICAL REPORT 129 FIRE DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATION 130 COUNTY REPORTING PERCENTAGES 148 FIRE DEPARTMENT DATA 149 INCIDENT TYPE CODES 165 5 www.nj.gov/dca/dfs 5 Introduction FIRE IN NEW JERSEY 2008 is a statistical analysis of fire and emergency incidents in New Jersey. The data collected and used in the formulation of this report comes from the fire departments throughout New Jersey that participate in the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS). Fire service personnel enter incident data into their fire department computer-based NFIRS database and, on a monthly basis, submit their data to the Division of Fire Safety. The Division receives the fire department data, processes it into the State NFIRS database and forwards the data to the Federal NFIRS database. We would like to thank the members of the participating fire departments. This report would not be possible without incident data. NFIRS Background The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-948) authorized the National Fire Data Center in the United States Fire Administration (USFA) to gather and analyze information on the frequency, causes, spread, and extinguishment of fires, and on the number, nature and causes of injuries and deaths resulting from fires and on property loss. Fire Incident Reporting in New Jersey The data used in this report were provided by fire departments that participate in the NFIRS. The statutes that created the Division of Fire Safety call for the Division to administer a fire incident reporting system in accordance with N.J.S.A. 52:27D-25d.(d.). To encourage participation, the Division of Fire Safety provides reference materials, incident field notes, and training to fire departments. The incident data that fire departments submit to the Division is forwarded to the National Fire Data Center at the United States Fire Administration. The Division began implementation of NFIRS 5 in 1999 and all of the data used in this report is from NFIRS 5. NFIRS 5 is an all-incident based reporting system that captures the many different types of incidents to which fire departments respond. Please see pages 165 to 171 for a complete list of incident types. Picture courtesy of William E. Rieger, III Front cover pictures courtesy of William E. Rieger, III. Dedication page picture courtesy of John Honer. 6 www.nj.gov/dca/dfs 6 REPORT CONTENTS The 2008 data presented in this report is representative of the incident data that was submit- ted to the Division of Fire Safety’s NFIRS Unit by June 15, 2009. Data received has been processed into the State and Federal databases. Please refer to pages 130 through 146 to see if your fire department has contributed to the information in this report. Based upon incidents received, New Jersey fire departments responded 408,491 times to incidents in 2008. Data submission is broken down as follows: Of the 735 fire departments in the state, 691 (94%) submitted data. Note: 28 fire departments submitted less than six months of data. 44 fire departments did not submit any data. The number of fire departments in the state differs from 2007 due to the merging of several departments: Camden County: Gloucester Township Fire District #5 FDID 04085 Gloucester Township Fire Districts #5&6 Gloucester Township Fire District #6 FDID 04086 FDID 04087 Lindenwold Fire Company #1 FDID 04631 Li ndenwold Fire Department Lindenwold Fire Company #2 FDID 04632 FDID 04630 Lindenwold Fire Company #3 FDID 04633 Gloucester County: Bridgeport Volunteer Fire Department FDID 08181 Logan Township Fire Department Repaupo Volunteer Fire Rescue #1 FDID 08182 FDID 08180 Barnsboro Volunteer Fire Company FDID 08221 Mantua Volunteer Fire Company #1 FDID 08222 Mantua Township Fire Department Centre City Volunteer Fire Company FDID 08223 FDID 08220 Mutual Fire Company #1 FDID 08224 Three fire departments have recently closed: Chesilhurst Volunteer Fire Company #1 FDID 04241 in Camden County is closed until further notice, Delmont Volunteer Fire Department FDID 06240 in Cumberland County is permanently closed, and Carmel Volunteer Fire Company FDID 06280 in Cumberland County closed permanently in December 2008 by township ordinance. Data in this report does not include military installation fire department data. Military installation fire departments report directly to the Department of Defense. All of the charts included in this report are based on 2008 totals unless otherwise specified. 7 www.nj.gov/dca/dfs 7 NFIRS CONTACT INFORMATION NFIRS staff is available to assist fire departments with NFIRS training and technical support. Please feel free to contact your NFIRS Field Representative. Heather Puskar, Supervisor (609) 324-7715 [email protected] Frederick Connin, Field Representative (609) 324-7642 [email protected] Fred assists fire departments in South Jersey. Fred is also involved with the Dormitory Sprinkler Program and School Fire Reports. Steven Hearn, Field Representative (609) 324-7694 [email protected] Steve assists fire departments in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Salem County. Sonia Salva, Technical Support Specialist (609) 324-7715 [email protected] Sonia receives NFIRS files from fire departments and processes the files into the State and Federal NFIRS databases. Sonia also calculates reporting percentages, population percentages, and manages the State NFIRS database. North Jersey Field Representative VACANT Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren County. This report would not be possible without the hard work, support and dedication of the NFIRS staff. 8 www.nj.gov/dca/dfs 8 FAST STATS for 2008 ¾ 2 firefighters died in the line of duty. (Pg. 10) ¾ 83 civilians lost their lives as a result of fire. (Pg. 103) ¾ 856 firefighters were reported injured. (Pg. 10) ¾ 471 civilians were reported injured as a result of fire. (Pg. 109) ¾ 79 percent of all civilian fire fatalities occurred in residential properties. (Pg. 104) ¾ 33,940 fires were reported. (Pg. 72) ¾ 77 percent of all reported structure fires involved residential properties. (Pg. 73) ¾ 60 percent of reported residential fires occurred in 1 or 2 family dwellings. (Pg. 79) ¾ 340 fires were intentionally set in residential properties. (Pg. 75) ¾ 80 percent of all reported vehicle fires involved passenger vehicles. (Pg. 118) ¾ 14 civilian fire fatalities occurred in vehicles. (Pg. 104) ¾ 99 vehicle fires were intentionally set. (Pg. 119) ¾ 3,750 acres were reported burned. (Pg. 121) ¾ 587 school fires were reported. (Pg. 111) ¾ 11 percent of all reported incidents were fire incidents. (Pg. 15) Picture taken by Bob Newkirk/Picture courtesy of Mary Peer 9 www.nj.gov/dca/dfs 9 firefighter injuries and line-of-duty deaths Firefighter Line-Of-Duty Deaths 12 11 10 8 7 7 7 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 FIREFIGHTER LINE-OF-DUTY DEATHS 2008 Years Of Name Age Status Service Fire Department Cause Of Death Raymond Barrett 62 Volunteer 31 Apshawa Volunteer Fire Company Heart Attack Dennis McClenahan 54 Volunteer 30 Princeton Junction Volunteer Fire Co.#1 Heart Attack Firefighter Injuries Female Male 21 835 2% 98% 10 www.nj.gov/dca/dfs 10 firefighter injuries Cause Of Firefighter Injuries Cause Of Injury, Other 22 Contact With Object (Firefighter Moved 104 Into/Onto) Exposure To Hazard 102 Fall 56 Information Not Provided By Fire 226 Department Jump 7 Overexertion/Strain 132 Slip/Trip 99 Struck Or Assaulted By 40 Person/Animal/Object Undetermined 68 0 50 100 150 200 250 Most Frequent Activity When Injuries Occurred Extinguishing Fire/Neutralizing Incident, 68 Othe r Getting Off Fire Department Vehicle 21 Handling Charged Hose Lines 99 Information Not Provided By Fire 203 Department Overhaul 40 Suppression Support, Other 29 Training Activity Or Drill 20 Undetermined 20 Using Hand Tools In Extinguishment 38 Activity 0 50 100 150 200 250 11 www.nj.gov/dca/dfs 11 firefighter injuries Most Frequent Incident Types When Injuries Occurred Building Fire 474 Confined Space Rescue 11 Cooking Fire, Confined To Container 11 Ems Call, Excluding Vehicle Accident 59 With Injury Extrication Of Victim (S) From Vehicle 21 Fires In Structure Other Than In A 11 Building Medical Assist, Assist Ems Crew 48 Motor Vehicle Accident With Injuries 20 Passenger Vehicle Fire 23 Rescue, Ems Incident, Other 12 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 Picture courtesy of William E.