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 Eatonville responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
52 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $18K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 12 | +71.4% | |
| 2024 | 9 | -25.0% | |
| 2025 | 20 | +122.2% |
* Well below Eatonville'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 2 building fires Eatonville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Eatonville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Eatonville departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,666 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Eatonville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 211,474 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Natural | 39,000 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,000 | 27.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 13,600 | 39.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,560 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,240 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 9,000 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 8.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,302 | 28.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 7,000 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,575 | 47.4 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 Eatonville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.