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 Holly Hill responded to 85 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
526 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 47 | — | |
| 2022 | 124 | — | |
| 2023 | 115 | -7.3% | |
| 2024 | 155 | +34.8% | |
| 2025 | 85 | -45.2% |
* Well below Holly Hill'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 12 building fires Holly Hill departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 74 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 | 7 | 9.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 7 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 6 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 29.7% |
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 Holly Hill mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 37.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 15 | 20.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 9.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Holly Hill departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Outside equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $240,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $170,235 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Holly Hill sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 217,060 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 | 8.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 26,900 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,000 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 13,600 | 8.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,560 | 26.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,240 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,302 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,145 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,575 | 7.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 6,420 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 5,420 | 25.3 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 Holly Hill. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Holly Hill.
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.