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 Wales responded to 270 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,533 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 253 | — | |
| 2022 | 391 | +54.5% | |
| 2023 | 328 | -16.1% | |
| 2024 | 291 | -11.3% | |
| 2025 | 270 | -7.2% |
For the 23 building fires Lake Wales departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 564 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 | 166 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 77 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 64 | 11.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 46 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 24 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 18 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 14 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 101 | 17.9% |
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 Wales mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 314 | 55.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 39 | 6.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 29 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 22 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 19 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 12 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 74 | 13.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lake Wales departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 64% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $95,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $55,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lake Wales sits above 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 137,003 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 17,000 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13,000 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 12,564 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,800 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 41.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 7,000 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5,964 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,835 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 4,200 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 4,200 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 4,018 | 45.4 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 Lake Wales. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lake Wales.
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.