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 Lakeland responded to 1,394 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 58% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
7,870 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $30.1M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,378 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,762 | +27.9% | |
| 2023 | 1,593 | -9.6% | |
| 2024 | 1,743 | +9.4% | |
| 2025 | 1,394 | -20.0% |
For the 135 building fires Lakeland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2,746 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 402 | 14.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 391 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 372 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 324 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 223 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 107 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 97 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 67 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 58 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 53 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 652 | 23.7% |
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 Lakeland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1,239 | 45.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 243 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 240 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 179 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 109 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 103 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 62 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 60 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 59 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 48 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 404 | 14.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lakeland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 42% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $325,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lakeland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
55 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 9 | |
| 30-39 | 8 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 71,526 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 | 10,119 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5,964 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,407 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 3,200 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 3,000 | 31.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 3,000 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,507 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 2,500 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,300 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,275 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,200 | 47.5 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 Lakeland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lakeland.
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.