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 Indiantown responded to 47 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 49% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
341 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 53 | — | |
| 2022 | 79 | +49.1% | |
| 2023 | 74 | -6.3% | |
| 2024 | 88 | +18.9% | |
| 2025 | 47 | -46.6% |
For the 2 building fires Indiantown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 212 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 53 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 50 | 23.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 39 | 18.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Multiple areas | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 24 | 11.3% |
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 Indiantown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 79 | 37.3% | |
| 2 | Lightning | 34 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 13 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 12 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 7 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 12.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Indiantown departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Aircraft fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $70,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Indiantown sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 414,236 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 43,561 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 38,100 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 38,000 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 29,250 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 26,428 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 23,250 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 21,100 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 19,600 | 49.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 17,000 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 16,000 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 14,000 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 12,783 | 34.2 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 | 34956 | 341 |
Six Florida cities with population within ±25% of Indiantown. 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.