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 Eustis responded to 236 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 46% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,302 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 234 | — | |
| 2022 | 278 | +18.8% | |
| 2023 | 264 | -5.0% | |
| 2024 | 290 | +9.8% | |
| 2025 | 236 | -18.6% |
For the 35 building fires Eustis departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 460 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 | 94 | 20.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 84 | 18.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 48 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 40 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 32 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 28 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 28 | 6.1% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 7 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 77 | 16.7% |
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 Eustis mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 219 | 47.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 33 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 21 | 4.6% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 18 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 17 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 15 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 84 | 18.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Eustis departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 88% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $28,259 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Eustis sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 192,246 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 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,000 | 43.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 13,600 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,560 | 23.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,240 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,302 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,575 | 42.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 6,420 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 5,420 | 21.6 mi |
Top 9 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 Eustis. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Eustis.
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.