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 Greenwood responded to 73 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $180K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
195 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $687K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 30 | — | |
| 2023 | 36 | +20.0% | |
| 2024 | 40 | +11.1% | |
| 2025 | 73 | +82.5% |
* Well below Greenwood'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 5 building fires Greenwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 78 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 | 39.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 11 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Other | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 6.4% |
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 Greenwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 46 | 59.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 10 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 5.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Greenwood departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Greenwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 28,203 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,498 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,384 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,614 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 2,246 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,290 | 47.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 988 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 869 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 793 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 672 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 608 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 563 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 555 | 49.2 mi |
Top 5 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 Greenwood. 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.