In 2025, fire departments serving Manchester responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
103 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $421K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 49 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023* | 11 | — | |
| 2024* | 10 | — | |
| 2025 | 24 | — |
* Well below Manchester'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 Manchester departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 2 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 23.5% |
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 Manchester mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 41.2% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Fireworks | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Candle | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Manchester departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $300 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Manchester sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,092 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,475 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,026 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 365 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 43.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 270 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 265 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 264 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 256 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 225 | 30.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 43.9 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 Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Manchester. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Manchester.
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.