Two Lithium-Ion Battery Fires in Three Weeks Destroy Homes in Pasco County, Florida
Battery fires in Zephyrhills and New Port Richey destroyed two homes, killed a dog and displaced six people between Aug. 31 and Sept. 18.
FL
In 2025, fire departments serving Alachua responded to 133 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 42% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
507 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 84 | — | |
| 2022 | 96 | +14.3% | |
| 2023* | 52 | — | |
| 2024 | 142 | — | |
| 2025 | 133 | -6.3% |
* Well below Alachua'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 7 building fires Alachua departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 183 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 52 | 28.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 31 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 13 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Other | 10 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 36 | 19.7% |
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 Alachua mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 82 | 44.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 12 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 10.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Alachua departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 84% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $80,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Alachua sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 352,962 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Natural | 69,060 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 57,200 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 34,936 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 34,660 | 40.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 20,100 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 20,000 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 16,100 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,626 | 24.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 12,753 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 11,025 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 6,800 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 6,500 | 12.8 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Florida cities with population within ±25% of Alachua. 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.