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 Largo responded to 508 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $252K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,775 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $19.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 496 | — | |
| 2022 | 543 | +9.5% | |
| 2023 | 436 | -19.7% | |
| 2024 | 792 | +81.7% | |
| 2025 | 508 | -35.9% |
For the 66 building fires Largo departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 503 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 | 79 | 15.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 72 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 63 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 52 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 29 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 21 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 20 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Other | 17 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 117 | 23.3% |
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 Largo mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 241 | 47.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 55 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 49 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 32 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 18 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 17 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 15 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 8 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 42 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Largo departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 66% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $251,500 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $64,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $42,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Largo sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
60 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 21 | |
| 40-49 | 15 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 27,834 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Natural | 3,000 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,275 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,000 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,939 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,500 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 1,427 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 1,300 | 46.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 1,287 | 26.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 1,000 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 900 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 41.7 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 Largo. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Largo.
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.