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 Clewiston responded to 435 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
986 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $184K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 259 | — | |
| 2022* | 115 | — | |
| 2023* | 106 | — | |
| 2024* | 71 | — | |
| 2025 | 435 | — |
* Well below Clewiston'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 11 building fires Clewiston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 279 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 | Outside area, other | 104 | 37.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 85 | 30.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Multiple areas | 21 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Vacant structural area | 4 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Other | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 5.0% |
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 Clewiston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 144 | 51.6% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 7.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 4.7% | |
| 4 | Lightning | 11 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 11 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 7 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 7 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 43 | 15.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Clewiston departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clewiston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 915,703 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 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 63,599 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 57,000 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 49,500 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 43,561 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 42,000 | 41.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 41,000 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 39,000 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 38,100 | 4.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 38,000 | 4.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 29,937 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 29,250 | 27.7 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 Clewiston. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Clewiston.
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.