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 Hastings responded to 97 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
218 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $105K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 117 | — | |
| 2025 | 97 | -17.1% |
* Well below Hastings'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 1 building fires Hastings 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 | 23 | 29.5% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 21 | 26.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 10 | 12.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 1.3% |
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 Hastings mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 45 | 57.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hastings departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hastings sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 203,236 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Natural | 39,000 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 26,900 | 11.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,626 | 36.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 13,600 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,560 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,145 | 11.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 6,800 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,575 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 6,500 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 5,679 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 5,420 | 45.1 mi |
Top 3 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 Hastings. 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.