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 Lake Placid responded to 181 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 54% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
843 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $7.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 15 | — | |
| 2022 | 190 | — | |
| 2023 | 239 | +25.8% | |
| 2024 | 218 | -8.8% | |
| 2025 | 181 | -17.0% |
* Well below Lake Placid'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 11 building fires Lake Placid departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 450 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 | 116 | 25.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 103 | 22.9% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 40 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 34 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 32 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 23 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 23 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 6 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 53 | 11.8% |
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 Lake Placid mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 187 | 41.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 42 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Lightning | 29 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 28 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 13 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 75 | 16.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lake Placid departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lake Placid sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 251,919 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 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 38,100 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 38,000 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 23,250 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 17,000 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,800 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 8,500 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 7,104 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6,000 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5,964 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5,500 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,835 | 32.3 mi |
Top 4 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 Lake Placid. 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.