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 Delray Beach responded to 215 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $77K 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.
May peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,420 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $6.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 258 | — | |
| 2022 | 307 | +19.0% | |
| 2023 | 329 | +7.2% | |
| 2024 | 311 | -5.5% | |
| 2025 | 215 | -30.9% |
For the 14 building fires Delray Beach departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 258 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 | 79 | 30.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 34 | 13.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 15 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 9 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 61 | 23.6% |
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 Delray Beach mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 139 | 53.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 44 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 21 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 5.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Delray Beach departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 84% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $77,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $23,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Delray Beach sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
21 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 9 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 750,394 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 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 57,000 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 49,500 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 42,000 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 41,000 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 39,000 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 29,937 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 29,250 | 44.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 27,000 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 26,428 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 25,000 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 23,500 | 35.0 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 Delray Beach. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Delray 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.