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 Hialeah responded to 200 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.2M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
May peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,328 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 286 | — | |
| 2022 | 267 | -6.6% | |
| 2023 | 316 | +18.4% | |
| 2024 | 259 | -18.0% | |
| 2025 | 200 | -22.8% |
For the 38 building fires Hialeah departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 517 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 | 106 | 20.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 78 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 50 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 50 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 38 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Other | 18 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 13 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 11 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 130 | 25.1% |
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 Hialeah mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 135 | 26.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 124 | 24.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 62 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 45 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 33 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 27 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 22 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Candle | 10 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 6 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 45 | 8.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hialeah departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,200,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hialeah sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 998,938 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 158,000 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 68,295 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 63,599 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 62,404 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 57,000 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 49,500 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 42,000 | 31.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 41,000 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39,465 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 39,000 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 38,131 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 30,636 | 40.1 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 Hialeah. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hialeah.
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.