In 2025, fire departments serving Manhattan responded to 372 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 48% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,222 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $8.2M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 508 | — | |
| 2022 | 489 | -3.7% | |
| 2023 | 381 | -22.1% | |
| 2024 | 472 | +23.9% | |
| 2025 | 372 | -21.2% |
For the 34 building fires Manhattan departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 781 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 124 | 15.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 119 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 83 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 77 | 9.9% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 49 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 48 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 46 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 26 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 18 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 17 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 174 | 22.3% |
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 Manhattan mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 278 | 35.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 88 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 68 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 49 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 29 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 27 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 26 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 25 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 20 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 20 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 151 | 19.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Manhattan departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 79% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Manhattan sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
19 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 107,839 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,000 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,500 | 9.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,289 | 9.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,278 | 12.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,800 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,500 | 14.4 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Manhattan. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Manhattan.
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.