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 Inverness responded to 338 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $149K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
May peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,535 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.4M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 197 | — | |
| 2022 | 324 | +64.5% | |
| 2023 | 364 | +12.3% | |
| 2024 | 312 | -14.3% | |
| 2025 | 338 | +8.3% |
For the 17 building fires Inverness departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 202 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 | 54 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 14 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 13 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Other | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 55 | 27.2% |
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 Inverness mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 89 | 44.1% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 22 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 17 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 3 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 12.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Inverness departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 84% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $148,734 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $115,132 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $97,137 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $54,120 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,047 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Inverness sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 60,409 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 4,014 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,407 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 3,175 | 30.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 3,149 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,111 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,616 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,507 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,275 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,189 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 2,015 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,000 | 29.8 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 Inverness. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Inverness.
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.