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 Atlantis responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 87% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
86 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | +50.0% | |
| 2024 | 30 | +42.9% | |
| 2025 | 15 | -50.0% |
* Well below Atlantis'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 1 building fires Atlantis departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | 5 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Treatment - first aid area, surgery area | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Surgery area - major operations, operating room | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 21.1% |
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 Atlantis mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Lightning | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Atlantis departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $52,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Atlantis sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 734,998 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 158,000 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 57,000 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 49,500 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 42,000 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 41,000 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 39,000 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 29,937 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 29,250 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 27,000 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 26,428 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 25,000 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 23,500 | 38.1 mi |
Top 4 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 Atlantis. 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.