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 Fernandina Beach responded to 208 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M 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 58% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,239 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $7.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 228 | — | |
| 2022 | 247 | +8.3% | |
| 2023 | 227 | -8.1% | |
| 2024 | 329 | +44.9% | |
| 2025 | 208 | -36.8% |
For the 29 building fires Fernandina Beach departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 222 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 | 31 | 14.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 13 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 77 | 34.7% |
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 Fernandina Beach mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 95 | 42.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 37 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fernandina Beach departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $130,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $60,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fernandina Beach sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 262,715 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 191,474 | 49.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 16,100 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 7,800 | 35.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 6,800 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 5,816 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 4,867 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,500 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,420 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 2,551 | 16.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,500 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,258 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,027 | 28.5 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 32034 | 1,239 |
Six Florida cities with population within ±25% of Fernandina Beach. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fernandina 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.