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 Lantana responded to 57 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 67% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
267 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $972K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 30 | — | |
| 2022 | 46 | — | |
| 2023 | 62 | +34.8% | |
| 2024 | 72 | +16.1% | |
| 2025 | 57 | -20.8% |
* Well below Lantana'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 Lantana departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 59 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 | 25 | 42.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 6 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 15.3% |
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 Lantana mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 32.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 6 | 10.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 8.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 4 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Candle | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 3.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lantana departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $6,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $3,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lantana sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 561,154 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 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 49,500 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 42,000 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 41,000 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 39,000 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 29,937 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 29,250 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 26,428 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 25,000 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 23,500 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 21,100 | 29.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 17,000 | 45.1 mi |
Top 5 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 Lantana. 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.