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 Gainesville responded to 1,120 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
5,025 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $20.2M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 789 | — | |
| 2022 | 911 | +15.5% | |
| 2023 | 936 | +2.7% | |
| 2024 | 1,269 | +35.6% | |
| 2025 | 1,120 | -11.7% |
For the 113 building fires Gainesville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,044 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 188 | 18.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 188 | 18.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 141 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 51 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 46 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Other | 34 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 28 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 28 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 20 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 20 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 300 | 28.7% |
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 Gainesville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 314 | 30.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 187 | 17.9% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 119 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 93 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 59 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 40 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 37 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 31 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 26 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 18 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 120 | 11.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gainesville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 56% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $750,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $267,817 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $230,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $210,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gainesville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
23 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 225,732 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Natural | 57,200 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 34,660 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 20,100 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 20,000 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,626 | 18.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 12,753 | 30.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 6,800 | 47.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 6,500 | 7.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 5,679 | 16.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 4,500 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,170 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 3,810 | 49.3 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 Gainesville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gainesville.
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.