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 Bowling Green responded to 64 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $160K 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 69% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
406 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 96 | — | |
| 2022 | 98 | +2.1% | |
| 2023 | 82 | -16.3% | |
| 2024 | 66 | -19.5% | |
| 2025 | 64 | -3.0% |
For the 3 building fires Bowling Green departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 126 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 | 42 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 17 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 7 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Other | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 20 | 15.9% |
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 Bowling Green mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 73 | 57.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 8 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 8 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 6.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bowling Green departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $160,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $110,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bowling Green sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 103,931 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 17,000 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,800 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5,964 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,932 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 5,837 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 4,200 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 4,200 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,250 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 3,200 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 3,175 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,112 | 43.2 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 Bowling Green. 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.