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 Davie responded to 278 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $503K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,654 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $11.6M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 340 | — | |
| 2022 | 369 | +8.5% | |
| 2023 | 344 | -6.8% | |
| 2024 | 323 | -6.1% | |
| 2025 | 278 | -13.9% |
For the 12 building fires Davie departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 655 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 | 201 | 30.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 94 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 63 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 43 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 34 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 24 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 20 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 19 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 15 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 13 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 129 | 19.7% |
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 Davie mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 338 | 51.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 74 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 53 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 32 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 15 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 14 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 11 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 66 | 10.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Davie departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 65% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $502,769 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $180,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $112,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,480 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Davie sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
76 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 12 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 998,938 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 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 68,295 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 63,599 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 62,404 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 57,000 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 49,500 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 42,000 | 24.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 41,000 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39,465 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 39,000 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 38,131 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 30,636 | 49.8 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 Davie. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Davie.
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.