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 Brandon responded to 234 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,473 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 255 | — | |
| 2022 | 284 | +11.4% | |
| 2023 | 295 | +3.9% | |
| 2024 | 405 | +37.3% | |
| 2025 | 234 | -42.2% |
For the 26 building fires Brandon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 268 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 | 61 | 22.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 37 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 30 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 20 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 67 | 25.0% |
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 Brandon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 209 | 78.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 26 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 0.4% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 0.4% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 0.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 1.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Brandon departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 88% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $207,147 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $186,063 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $27,105 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brandon sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
13 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 51,590 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 | 10,119 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,407 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 3,000 | 11.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,507 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 2,500 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,275 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,189 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 16.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,000 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,939 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,775 | 41.3 mi |
Top 5 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 Brandon. 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.