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 Fort Denaud responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
25 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 3 | -25.0% | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 12 | +200.0% |
* Well below Fort Denaud'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 0 building fires Fort Denaud departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1 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 | Outside area, other | 1 | 100.0% |
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 Fort Denaud mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1 | 100.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fort Denaud sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 419,625 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 43,561 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 38,100 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 38,000 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 29,112 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 24,315 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 23,250 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 21,963 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 20,300 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 19,600 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 18,027 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 16,500 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15,627 | 40.8 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 | 33935 | 25 |
Six Florida cities with population within ±25% of Fort Denaud. 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.