In 2025, fire departments serving Mankato responded to 324 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 54% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,514 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 287 | — | |
| 2022 | 307 | +7.0% | |
| 2023 | 300 | -2.3% | |
| 2024 | 296 | -1.3% | |
| 2025 | 324 | +9.5% |
For the 28 building fires Mankato departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 289 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 | Undetermined | 73 | 25.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 44 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 15 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 14 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 76 | 26.3% |
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 Mankato mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 158 | 54.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 34 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 14 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mankato departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $28,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $17,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mankato sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,491 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,909 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 14.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 177 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 144 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 85 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 27.5 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 Mankato. 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.