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 Cocoa Beach responded to 79 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $180K 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 60% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
419 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $509K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 126 | — | |
| 2023 | 92 | -27.0% | |
| 2024 | 115 | +25.0% | |
| 2025 | 79 | -31.3% |
* Well below Cocoa Beach'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 4 building fires Cocoa Beach departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 74 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 | 22 | 29.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 6 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Other | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 18.9% |
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 Cocoa Beach mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 27 | 36.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 7 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Fireworks | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Match | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 13.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cocoa Beach departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $300 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cocoa Beach sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 149,890 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,000 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13,000 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 12,564 | 25.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,240 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 9,000 | 9.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,302 | 23.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 7,000 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,981 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 6,263 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,304 | 15.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 5,000 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 4,808 | 20.9 mi |
Top 2 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 Cocoa Beach. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cocoa Beach.
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.