A man has been charged with first-degree arson following a fire at a fraternity house in Mankato, Minnesota, earlier this month. 

The criminal complaint says police had to go inside the house during the early morning hours on Sept. 15 to make sure all residents were safely outside. Then, due to flames spreading along the front part of the house and the porch, they had to use a back door to escape.

No one was reported injured during the fire, which caused about $50,000 in damage. An online fundraiser identified the location as a chapter house for Phi Kappa Psi - Minnesota Gamma.

While speaking with a witness, police learned a man was seen standing across the street from the burning fraternity. That witness then yelled at the man, who turned around and walked away. The witness said he started banging on the door to tell residents the house was on fire, and when he turned around, he saw the man was "nearly running away." 

Police, after hearing the man's description, went to a nearby group home. The complaint says police were already familiar with the suspect and knew he lived at the group home, which is in the direction the witness saw him running. 

There, the complaint alleges a worker said the suspect had recently returned, wearing clothing similar to that of a man on the fraternity house's surveillance camera footage. On that surveillance video, the complaint says the man goes to the front door of the fraternity house, walks around on the porch, and looks inside a window. He then is seen walking to a porch table and kicking it before leaving the front porch. 

Then, the video shows a man walking off the porch, standing in a front walkway for a bit before returning to the porch, grabbing a large sheet that was draped across the porch and then lighting the sheet on fire. After, the man walks out of the camera's view before he's seen returning with two more sheets that are also on fire, according to the charges. 

The man is then seen walking to the walkway, looking at the fire, and walking away. Another security video shows the man turning back toward the fire and throwing a small object toward the steps, the complaint says. A detective later found a lighter in that area during a search. 

Court records show the suspect has a court hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon.