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 Cape Coral responded to 553 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $238K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,013 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $13.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 758 | — | |
| 2022 | 800 | +5.5% | |
| 2023 | 876 | +9.5% | |
| 2024 | 1,026 | +17.1% | |
| 2025 | 553 | -46.1% |
For the 47 building fires Cape Coral departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 804 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 131 | 16.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 129 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 115 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 56 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 41 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 37 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Other | 36 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 20 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 19 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 19 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 201 | 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 Cape Coral mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 174 | 21.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 147 | 18.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 132 | 16.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 88 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 48 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 39 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 32 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 26 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 17 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 90 | 11.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cape Coral departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 56% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $238,138 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cape Coral sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
16 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 138,015 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Natural | 18,027 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 16,500 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15,627 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,250 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,230 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 7,104 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,068 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,932 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 5,837 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 5,000 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 4,450 | 41.0 mi |
Top 10 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 Cape Coral. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cape Coral.
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.