Fire Deaths in Minnesota Drop to Second-Lowest Level Ever

Fire marshal urges Minnesotans to keep taking fire prevention seriously

January 12, 2017

Melissa Lentz,

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Authorities report that one person died in the morning hours of January 12, at an apartment fire in Mound. This is the first fire fatality of 2017 for the state of Minnesota, and it comes on the heels of a near record-setting year for fire deaths in the state.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety released preliminary information that the number of fire deaths in 2016 was the second-lowest since the DPS State Fire Marshal Division (SFMD) began compiling those statistics in 1970.

In 2016, 36 people died, a 37-percent decrease over the 57 fatalities in 2015. The lowest number of fire fatalities on record was 35 in 2009; the highest was 134 in 1976.

Numbers will be finalized once Minnesota hospital officials report their information to the Minnesota Department of Public Health in the spring.

State Fire Marshal Bruce West said he is pleased fire deaths plummeted to a near-record low but that even one fire death is too many.

West said it was difficult to pinpoint a specific reason for the drop in fire deaths, but is hopeful that Minnesotans are taking fire prevention in their homes more seriously.

Fire deaths in the past decade: