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 Hilliard responded to 96 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
404 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.3M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 41 | — | |
| 2022 | 97 | — | |
| 2023 | 76 | -21.6% | |
| 2024 | 94 | +23.7% | |
| 2025 | 96 | +2.1% |
* Well below Hilliard'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 9 building fires Hilliard departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 81 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 | 16 | 19.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 18.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Entrance way, lobby | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 19.8% |
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 Hilliard mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 38.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 9 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 5 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 9.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hilliard departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hilliard sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,265,807 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 309,200 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 191,474 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 152,515 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 124,110 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 123,014 | 29.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 69,060 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 68,361 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 34,936 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 34,660 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 28,985 | 24.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 20,100 | 42.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 16,100 | 25.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 32046 | 404 |
Six Florida cities with population within ±25% of Hilliard. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hilliard.
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.