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.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Bagdad responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
35 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $80K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | — | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 13 | +44.4% |
* Well below Bagdad'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 Bagdad departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3 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 | Structural area, other | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 1 | 33.3% |
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 Bagdad mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 33.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bagdad departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bagdad sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 63,074 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,100 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,930 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,900 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,490 | 9.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,926 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,800 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,765 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,486 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,400 | 10.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 2,215 | 2.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,176 | 16.9 mi |
Top 3 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 Bagdad. 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.