In 2025, fire departments serving Delano responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
135 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | — | |
| 2023 | 50 | +138.1% | |
| 2024 | 25 | -50.0% | |
| 2025 | 34 | +36.0% |
* Well below Delano's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 5 building fires Delano departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 11.1% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Delano mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 38.9% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Match | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Delano departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,500 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Delano sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,841 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 8,513 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 37.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 50.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 31.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 29.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 280 | 37.2 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Delano. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.