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.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Groveland responded to 141 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 45% of all calls.
May peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
862 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 163 | — | |
| 2022 | 208 | +27.6% | |
| 2023 | 190 | -8.7% | |
| 2024 | 160 | -15.8% | |
| 2025 | 141 | -11.9% |
For the 13 building fires Groveland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 399 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 | 74 | 18.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 62 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 61 | 15.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 42 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 23 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Other | 20 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 18 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 72 | 18.0% |
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 Groveland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 186 | 46.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 24 | 6.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 20 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 20 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 15 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 12 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 10 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 69 | 17.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Groveland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Groveland sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 101,055 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Natural | 10,560 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 5,420 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 5,000 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 4,014 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 3,900 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,741 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,407 | 17.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 3,149 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,111 | 36.1 mi |
Top 8 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 Groveland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Groveland.
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.