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 Keystone Heights responded to 156 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 51% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
214 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $798K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023* | 17 | — | |
| 2024* | 24 | — | |
| 2025 | 156 | — |
* Well below Keystone Heights'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 5 building fires Keystone Heights departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 57 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 | 14 | 24.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 19.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 10 | 17.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 15.8% |
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 Keystone Heights mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 18 | 31.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 15 | 26.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 7.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Keystone Heights departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Aircraft fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $7,200 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $7,200 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Keystone Heights sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 216,427 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 34,660 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 26,900 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 20,100 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 16,100 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,626 | 5.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 12,753 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,022 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,145 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 6,800 | 34.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 6,500 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 5,679 | 5.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 5,136 | 43.2 mi |
Top 2 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 Keystone Heights. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Keystone Heights.
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.