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 Myers responded to 746 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 42% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
6,148 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $28.6M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,255 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,237 | -1.4% | |
| 2023 | 1,627 | +31.5% | |
| 2024 | 1,283 | -21.1% | |
| 2025 | 746 | -41.9% |
For the 69 building fires Fort Myers departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,744 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 | 325 | 18.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 271 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 147 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 146 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 114 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 70 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Other | 59 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 59 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 47 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 46 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 460 | 26.4% |
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 Myers mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 755 | 43.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 164 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 147 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 90 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 80 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 73 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 58 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 47 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 42 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 36 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 252 | 14.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fort Myers departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 59% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $550,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $357,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fort Myers sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
40 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 303,409 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 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 29,112 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 24,315 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 20,300 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 18,027 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 17,000 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 16,500 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15,627 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,689 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,466 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,250 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 8,063 | 44.2 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 Fort Myers. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fort Myers.
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.