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 Cocoa responded to 269 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $800K 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 41% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,646 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $6.8M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 382 | — | |
| 2022 | 331 | -13.4% | |
| 2023 | 335 | +1.2% | |
| 2024 | 329 | -1.8% | |
| 2025 | 269 | -18.2% |
For the 24 building fires Cocoa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 444 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 | 86 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 56 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 40 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 33 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 26 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Other | 19 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 18 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 12 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 120 | 27.0% |
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 Cocoa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 240 | 54.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 45 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 37 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 14 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 13 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 9 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 36 | 8.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cocoa departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $800,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $700,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $182,736 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cocoa sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 159,210 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 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13,000 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 12,564 | 26.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,240 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 9,000 | 3.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,302 | 15.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 7,000 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,981 | 32.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 6,420 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 6,263 | 10.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,304 | 6.4 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 Cocoa. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cocoa.
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.