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 Lake Clarke Shores responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 71% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
48 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $112K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 7 | -22.2% | |
| 2023* | 5 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | +7.7% |
* Well below Lake Clarke Shores'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 0 building fires Lake Clarke Shores departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3 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 | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 1 | 33.3% |
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 Lake Clarke Shores mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 33.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lake Clarke Shores departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $8,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lake Clarke Shores sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 532,154 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Natural | 57,000 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 49,500 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 42,000 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 41,000 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 29,937 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 29,250 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 26,428 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 25,000 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 23,500 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 21,100 | 31.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 17,000 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 16,000 | 28.4 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 | 33406 | 48 |
Six Florida cities with population within ±25% of Lake Clarke Shores. 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.