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 Archer responded to 57 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
181 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $690K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 46 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023* | 13 | — | |
| 2024 | 54 | — | |
| 2025 | 57 | +5.6% |
* Well below Archer'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 5 building fires Archer departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 52 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 | 20 | 38.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 5 | 9.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 15.4% |
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 Archer mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 26 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 5.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Archer departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $18,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Archer sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 152,960 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Natural | 57,200 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 20,000 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,626 | 33.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 12,753 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 6,500 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 5,679 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,170 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,713 | 17.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 3,175 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,933 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,616 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 2,226 | 48.0 mi |
Top 6 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 Archer. 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.